Vijay Gupta, violin
Program Notes
Darshan means ‘seeing’ in Hindi. In the Hindu religion, to give ‘darshan’ is to see and worship God. As Vijay and I worked on this music together over three years, we began to see the divine in one another.
This movement, in Raag Charukeshi, is the first movement of five, which will be written over a span of five years. It explores grief, in its many facets and forms.
Recording
for mmt 3 (Charukeshi) see video at top of page.
Special Performance Requirements
No specific Hindustani technique is required for the performance of this piece — Western-trained violinists can certainly find everything they need on the page.
However, performers can gain further context by:
– Listening to performances of Raag Charukeshi (I find it equally useful to listen to longer performances on YouTube/Spotify as well as very short clips by typing #charukeshi into instagram)
– Becoming familiar with the sound of the sarangi (bowed string instrument commonly used in Hindustani tradition — wonderful players include Pankaj Mishra and Ram Narayan)
– Listening to the music of Kala Ramnath, an incredible Hindustani classical violinist.
Audio Guide
Darshan Audio Guide – Bihag (mmt 1)
Premiere/Performances
This piece was commissioned by Vijay Gupta. It was first premiered (in its first iteration) with Taos New Music Group in Taos, New Mexico on September 22, 2018.
Press/Reviews
Two pieces by Reena Esmail highlighted the Eastern Inspirations concert presented by Chamber Music Northwest on July 18 at Kaul Auditorium. The Indian-American composer has been a rising star due to her talent for blending aspects of Indian music with Western styles in an enchanting way (read Angela Allen’s recent profile here). Esmail’s brief pieces for solo violin, played by…Vijay Gupta, were the most exotic sounds in a program that included works by Kaija Saariaho, Henry Cowell, and Maurice Ravel. It was an eclectic mix that stretched my ears.
The concert started with “Bihag,” the first movement from Esmail’s Darshan. Gupta … introduced “Bihag” by reciting a poem by James Agee, “Sure on this Shining Night.” With his unaccompanied violin, Gupta elicited all sorts of microtones and interesting harmonics by carefully sliding between notes. Although the program booklet explained that the piece “explores grief in its many facets and forms,” I found it fairly uplifting rather than sad–but that might be due to my cultural perspective.
James Bash, Stretching the ears: Chamber Music North-east-meets-west (Oregon ArtsWatch)
Darshan was feature in the New York Times article “Five Minutes That Will Make You Love the Violin“
This solo violin piece by Reena Esmail really blew me away when I first heard it. Like much of her work, it inhabits an intensely lyrical space informed by both Indian and Western classical musics. In Vijay Gupta’s gripping performance, I hear sounds, colors and expressions simultaneously familiar and fresh, intimate and epic, grounded and aloft.
Andrew Norman, New York Times
Comfortably crossing cultural boundaries, Reena Esmail draws on both western and Indian traditions to write distinctive music that is at home in both. Darshan is a terrific solo violin piece which transports us to a timeless state and may even offer a glimpse of the divine!
Cacophony Online Podcast, Ep. 111 “Glimpses of the Divine“
Based on a Hindustani raag, it brought to mind sounds associated with the sitar and table [sic]. The piece was as audacious as the performance was accomplished, flexing the violin in ways that were previously hard to imagine.
David Vass, The Cornhall (review of Geneva Lewis recital)
Reena Esmail’s “Darshan: Raag Charukeshi” offers a dreamy, gripping display of meticulous violin playing…
review of The Living American (Doug Levitt)
