Cello

The most versatile, amazing, subtle, mind blowing cello playing I've ever heard. The first time a friend played it for me we sat in front of the speakers silently, looking at each other in surprise and amazement every few minutes. I didn't know anything about Indian classical music but I knew that THIS was special. I immediately bought the CD and I listen to the entire thing every night before bed, completely focused on her subtleties and bends and dynamics as she plays. I let my mind go with the cello. To appreciate it you have to listen carefully to the variations and changes and directions and the sounds she pulls out of the cello, sometimes very subtle, other times like breathing fire. I grew up a professional musician, so I've been around the best musicians all my life, and she is one of the all time best. Clearly she is full time dedicated to her craft.

With an open mind and heart you can appreciate this as a timeless part of a collection. This I believe to be her premier recording; her debut in classical Indian music (as well as dhrupad's first American cellist). At this point she had been studying under the masters for 15 years, and cello for at least twenty years. The set is overflowing with emotion and awash the lush nuances of the cello and pakhawaj. It may not be "pure" or "evoking" to some purists, but on the contrary, I think it is astounding. Leave it on and enjoy the sounds, I don't examine it. It is a deep lake...

I was curious too about this, a cello in Indian music? Done by a white woman? Some might say that it can't be done, but why not? The cello is not an instrument from India, but upon visiting India, Nancy Lesh shared her music and in return the people of India made a huge impact on her music and her life. She eventually changed her style of playing, readjusted the tuning of the cello, and made it into something that is both haunting and beautiful at the same time. She had been told that the sound of the cello would be perfect for the "dhrupan" style, which is a vocal style of Indian classical music. This CD is the result of the impact Indian music had on her. At first the sound of the cello sets you off, because you're expecting it to sound as it does in Western classical music. But the listener gets caught up in the "alap", which she does slowly and carefully, and you realize that the cello is perfect for this. Lesh is someone I think I would enjoy hearing in a live setting, but until then, this CD shows a lot of potential. I hope she plans to record more music in the years to come.

This is one of the great recordings of Indian music. Don't let the fact that the artist is American, or the instrument is a western cello put you off thinking that this is somehow inauthentic. This is one of the most intense, strange, and beautiful recordings I have ever heard. There is absolutley nothing like it. Nancy Lesh is an extrordinary musician with complete command of her instument. Far more satisfying and intriguing than the vast majority of Indian recordings that are flooding the market today. She has absorbed this music completely. For anyone who has an interest in Indian music or in the cello in the hands of a rare master this is an absolute must.

Anyone expecting to hear authentic Indian Dhrupad on this CD will be disappointed at best, or more seriously, given the glorious tradition of one of the highest achievements of Indian art forms, misled. Nancy may have studied under a dhrupad master but this does not make her a mistress of the form. Admittedly the cello is a difficult, I would personally say near-impossible, instrument to represent the complexity of dhrupad.Apart from the taal there is nothing to single out these performances as being in the dhrupad mould. The alaaps are stiflingly moribund, and the lack of dynamics makes for tedious listening. Bhupali is a lively raga in khyal, a dignified raga in dhrupad, but here it appears as a dirge. The jhors do not reflect the required intensity of either raga, and have the depressing effect of a deflated souffle.In the dhrupad Nancy is not helped by an unsympathetic pakhawaj accompaniment which is pedestrian in the extreme and fails in dynamics and intensity to augment the performance.

The "clumsy tabla" referred to by the previous reviewer is none other than the forerunner of the tabla, the pakhawaj. It is a single, elongated drum with heads on each end and a more distinctive sound unique from that of the tabla. While this may sound different to some people, it was selected for use here because it was more appropriate to the nature of the performance.

This is a rare performance, and any openminded listener of classical Indian music should have this CD.