Sourendro and Soumyojit explore the east-west connections. Picture by Sanat Kr Sinha

Circa 1810, Beethoven dipped his pen in emotions for one Therese von Brunswick and composed Fur Elise.

More than a century later, Begum Akhtar sang her heart out in the ghazal Ay mohabbat, tere anjam pe rona aya.

?If the notes are scanned, the banks of Rhine and the ghats of the Indian subcontinent seem to echo identical sentiments of bereavement of a beloved,? points out Sourendro Mullick, a pianist student of V. Balsara, back from a three-month concert tour of Germany. ?One is in A Minor, the tonic chords of which are the same as the chords of Raag Sudh Re Bhairavi on which the ghazal is based. Even the rhythm is the same.?

Sourendro, a scion of the Rajendro Mullick family of Marble Palace, and his friend, vocalist Soumyajit Das, compared notes from the east and the west at Gorky Sadan last weekend. They performed eight sets of compositions in the presence of the Governor and members of the city?s artistic fraternity.

Adaptation is not what the duo looks at. ?We are leaving out parallels like Mozart?s Symphony 40 and Salil Chowdhury?s Mujh se tu itna na pyar bara where one is known to have been inspired by the other. Our focus is the way musicians from across continents and centuries, working independently, have given similar musical expression to identical emotions,? says Soumyojit.

Another example they cite is Madan Mohan?s composition Lag Ja Gale for the film Woh Kaun Thi in 1964, immortalised in Lata Mangeshkar?s voice. ?It seems to be a continuation of Johann Strauss?s Blue Danube,? Sourendro says.

The two got the chance to listen to a wealth of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and Scarletti during their concert tour of Cologne, where they chanced upon the similarities.

There was more than musical kinship on offer. Moubani Sircar recited one of Wordsworth?s Lucy poems to a rendition of Tagore?s E Manihar amay nahin saje.