A cool evening with musical fireworks is all that a music lover can ask for in this season. A sarod recital by virtuoso Amaan Ali Khan was organized by Bengal Club at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club lawns on December 12. The evening raised the expectation levels real high and succeeded in living up to the expectations of the listeners.

Evening time and Kalyan thaat almost go hand in hand when it comes to Hindustani classical music. The first presentation from Amaan was Raga Yaman Kalyan. It is difficult to distinguish between the ragas of bilawal thaat as almost all of them have variation in one note. He played the alap with such beauty that the basic flavour of Yaman Kalyan was apparent from the very beginning. The vistars in madhyasaptak demand a special mention as they held together the prolonged alap. The transitions between the alap and the jod were seamless.

The special flavour of Yaman Kalyan seemed clearer when Amaan started playing the gat in jhamptal. The off-beat vistars, taans and tihais were presented in a well-ordered fashion. The skill of the accompanist, Shubhankar Banerjee, on tabla was apparent between the first and second gats, when he played some awe-inspiring kaidas in jhamptal.

The second gat was in teental. He started playing taans with the rhythm of the gat but ended up playing small, yet intricate, taans in quadrupled speed. Yaman Kalyan made for an exuberant beginning to the rest of the musical ride.

The next presentation was Raga Jog. Raga Jog belongs to Khamaj thaat according to one school of Hindustani classical music. But another school of thought attaches it to Kaafi thaat because it uses both komal nishad and komal gandhar. A feature of Raga Jog is the oscillation between shudh and komal gandhar in succession in the descent. This is the first time Amaan performed this raga.

The audience thus got a chance to taste a different flavour of Amaan's performance. He seemed to be a bit apprehensive at the beginning and took some time to settle down with the raga. He appeared to be more confident when he started on the gat after a brief alap. The first gat was in rupak tal. The seven matra gat was pleasing enough to capture the mood of the raga. Taans are his area of expertise and every time he speeds up the taans the audience applauds spontaneously. This evening was not an exception.

The second gat was even more stunning in composition. Amaan's fingers moved at a superhuman pace, working up a crescendo on ati-drut teental. Notwithstanding the slight lack of focus in the beginning, the overall presentation of Raga Jog was wholesome.

The last presentation was Raga Desh. A very popular gat in teental was played with such expertise that the subtle difference between Desh and its neighbouring raga, Tilak Kamod, was evident. The variation in the use of komal nishad in the descent brought out the incredible taste of Raga Desh. Aided by some of Shubhankar Banerjee's catchy tukdas on tabla, the first gat seemed to end in a flashy way.

The second gat too was in teental. This composition was more complicated and contained some hard-to-touch staccato notes. But in the unparalleled Senia-Bangash Gharana style of playing, Amaan blended those staccato and soulful notes with elan. The taans towards the end seemed to become more and more complex, which created an edge-of-the-seat drama. The culmination of the performance took the audience to a level where everyone's musical appetite was sated.