Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000

AMG Review of Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000

Sean Westergaard
All Music Guide

Ravi Shankar's tour in 2000 served to introduce his student/daughter Anoushka to the world. They had performed together numerous times, but this was Anoushka's first major tour. Full Circle is a recording of their concert together at Carnegie Hall in October of 2000. It contains performances of two agas: "Raga Kaushi Kanhara," presented with separate alap/jor and gat portions, and "Raga Mishra Gara," presented as one piece. Ravi Shankar was at his most uninhibited playing in front of a live audience, and 20 minutes of alap/jor in a 60-minute program may be a bit much for uninitiated Western ears. But the fast gat portion of "Raga Mishra Gara" can't help but delight any music fan with its musicianship and dexterity (age has not affected Ravi Shankar's abilities on the sitar). This is an excellent recording, and a fine snapshot of Ravi Shankar at the turn of the century, but perhaps not the best place to start for those new to Indian classical music.