Peacock

The meeting of two virtuoso violinists from different genres is always interesting. Roby Lakatos is from a long dynasty of Hungarian Gypsy fiddlers and Subramaniam is probably the most famous violinist in the South Indian tradition. Both of them have been in many fusion projects over the years.

They open with ‘Bullet Train’, which alternates phrases from each of the two violinists getting faster and faster with rhythmic support from no less than Tanmoy Bose on tabla. It’s a tour de force of super fast violin playing throwing phrases back and forth. There’s a superb pizzicato section in the middle. ‘Lamenting’, by contrast, features slow, ethereal violin harmonics over Hungarian cimbalom. Lakatos’ harmonics are followed by the dark alto tones of Subramaniam’s violin although he also soars up into the higher registers. ‘Hungarian Dance’ is a version of Brahms’ ever popular Hungarian Dance No 5, a staple of the Hungarian Gypsy repertoire. It’s polished and includes great cimbalom from Jenó Lisztes. The slow ‘Dharmavathi’ with the wordless vocals of Kavita Krishnamurthi is a welcome change of texture and a calming balm at the centre of the album. ‘Peacock’ doesn’t refer to any of the peacock songs in Hungarian folk music, but it does include a dark Subramaniam solo on his deeply resonant violin. This album is a great meeting of two musicians who clearly connect to make thrilling music.