Simply Amjad Ali Khan Vols 1-3

These three albums are by one of India's finest classical instrumentalists playing one of the most distinguished instruments, the sarod. They were released to celebrate his 75th birthday in October and recorded at recitals in India between 1993-2004.

It's Vol 2 that stands out for the performance of ‘Raga Multani’ – a warm and solemn afternoon raga with prominent augmented intervals that sound enticing and exotic to Western ears. Amazingly, this concert in 1993 was the first time he had publicly played ‘Raag Multani’, which he says is a very challenging raga. At times the notes plunge right down low and then Amjad slides up the metallic fingerboard with some majestic glissandos. Later, as the pace builds up towards the end, there's almost two or three layers of sound – a slowly moving lower layer and then a couple of higher levels bursting like fireworks above it. It really does take you into another world. It's followed by ‘Raag Shudhkalyan’ (recorded in 2003), which is simpler, but with enticing long slides between the notes.

What's unusual here is that these recitals are sarod alone, with no tabla, although there are times in ‘Raag Multani’ where his hand strikes the instrument in a percussive way. Vol 1 also has two ragas, ‘Raag Shankara’ and ‘Raag Bilaskhani Todi’, recorded in 1999. The first is said to be a nighttime raga and sounds rather like a major scale and therefore extremely unexotic. It's very slow to get going, but he does have a double-headed pakhawaj drum join him after about eight minutes, apparently a tradition started by his father Hafiz Ali Khan. The pakhawaj, borrowed from dhrupad music, has a much softer sound than the tabla and creates a rhythmic space around the music, which helps it lift off towards a spectacular end after 20 minutes. ‘Raag Bilaskhani Todi’ is more interesting. It's a yearning, early morning raga supposedly created by Bilas Khan, the son of Mian Tansen, one of India's legendary musicians of the 16th century whose tomb is in Gwalior, Amjad's ancestral family home. I'm sure that's why this strange and elusive raga means so much to him.

There are three nighttime ragas on Vol 3, ‘Raag Jaijaiwanti’, ‘Raag Saraswati Kalyan’ and ‘Raag Khammaj’. The second of these is a creation of Ali Khan's, when he accidentally added a forbidden note to ‘Raag Saraswati’, but felt the goddess was welcoming it. The closing ‘Raag Khammaj’ (or Khamaj) is a favourite sensuous night raga.