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-5.jpg "Jasdeep Singh Degun, Gurdain Rayatt, Fantasia Orchestra, Tom Fetherstonhaugh - Smith Square Hall (Photo: Pablo Strong)") |
| Jasdeep Singh Degun, Gurdain Rayatt, Fantasia Orchestra, Tom Fetherstonhaugh – Smith Sq. Corridor (Picture: Pablo Robust) |
Terry Riley: In C, Jasdeep Singh Degun, Philip Glass, Rameau; Jasdeep Singh Degun, Gurdain Rayatt, Fantasia Orchestra, Tom Fetherstonhaugh; Smith Sq. Corridor
Reviewed 10 April 2026
Minimalism, classical Indian music & French Baroque in an entrancing combine which noticed the long-lasting In C together with sitar and tabla alongside Jasdeep Singh Degun’s personal music in performances stuffed with infectious pleasure
Sitar participant and composer Jasdeep Sing Degun joined Tom Fetherstonhaugh and Fantasia Orchestra for a live performance at Smith Sq. Corridor on Friday 10 April 2026 with a wide-ranging programme which noticed Degun, on sitar, and tabla participant Gurdain Rayatt becoming a member of the orchestra in Terry Riley‘s iconic In C alongside music by Degun, Philip Glass and Rameau.
The orchestra consisted of an ensemble of 21 strings with Fetherstonhaugh enjoying the piano for the primary half. We started with Degun’s In Search of Redemption from his first album, Anomaly. We started with Fetherstonhaugh enjoying a mild melody on the piano, then as sitar and strings joined they performed the identical melody in free heterophonic style. Because the piece developed we grew to become conscious of Degun, the composer, including layers every one with a distinct timbre and enjoying subtly completely different rhythms. The work ended with a quick riff for sitar (Degun) and tabla (Rayatt) over a string drone.
-3.jpg "Jasdeep Singh Degun, Fantasia Orchestra - Smith Square Hall (Photo: Pablo Strong)") |
| Jasdeep Singh Degun, Fantasia Orchestra – Smith Sq. Corridor (Picture: Pablo Robust) |
Terry Riley’s In C just isn’t a lot a composed piece of music as a recipe. The ‘directions’ encompass 53 modules that match on a single web page, every module being a brief musical phrase. The work will be performed by any mixture of devices and Riley suggests about three dozen performers, every appearing individually. Right here we had the 21 strings plus Fetherstonhaugh on piano, Degun on sitar and Rayatt on tabla. The outcome was entrancing. The presence of sitar and tabla within the sound combine inflected issues in direction of Minimalism’s Indian influences, however total there was wonderful textural selection with broad variations in rhythm and timbre. It’s fairly a protracted piece, in spite of everything it takes some two dozen individuals fairly a time to work their method individually via 53 motifs while creating one thing musical. What Fantasia Orchestra achieved was one thing that managed to be compelling and fairly magical.
After the interval, with Fetherstonhaugh now conducting, we started with the Thunderstorm from Rameau’s Platée (with out sitar and tabla). Quick and vivid cascading scales have been performed with nice verve and elan. Degun and Rayatt then return to hitch the orchestra for Degun’s Rageshri. Right here we had quick melodic strains performed in heterophonic style, stuffed with catchy rhythms. There have been highlight moments for sitar with some bravura enjoying from Degun and for tabla, main into a protracted solo part for the 2 (with the strings silent). Right here it grew to become obvious that Degun and Rayatt have been long-time collaborators as that they had enjoyable ‘duelling’. The strings lastly rejoined them for an thrilling end.
Then we got here to extra Rameau, this time Tristes apprêts from Castor et Pollux with Degun enjoying the vocal line on the sitar. He’s educated in gayaki ang-a, a lyrical sitar model that emulates the human voice, and right here we acquired an actual sense of an Indian classical singer inflecting Rameau’s vocal line in distinctive methods. Rameau was current however heard via a distinct, fairly entrancing filter that centered on the ornamentation and the transitions between notes.
Degun and Rayatt took a again seat for the subsequent piece, Philip Glass’s Echorus which featured two solo violins (Millie Ashton and Hana Mizuta-Spencer). The work was written in 1995 for Yehudi Menuhin. Issues started with the soloists in elaborate arpeggios over chugging violas, then issues expanded with longer ripieno violin notes over the feel. While the sound worlds are vastly completely different, Glass’s use of a number of layers, every one completely different, linked again (or ahead) to Degun’s personal writing.
We ended with one in every of Degun’s stand-out items, his sitar concerto Arya which was written for the Orchestra of Opera North (the place he was artist in residence) in 2020. We heard the second motion. Degun defined that while ‘aria’ in Western utilization means a sung vocal piece with accompaniment, in Hindi (and Sanskrit) it means treasured gem. We started with sitar over throbbing strings with the solo line solely step by step getting extra outstanding. Because the orchestral materials grew to become extra rhythmic, Degun’s sitar took over and dazzled us with flurries of scales resulting in a solo second in free rhapsodic model resulting in extra spectacular finger-work. After a second for Rayatt’s tabla, issues completed with a virtuoso duel for the 2 of them.
-14.jpg "Jasdeep Singh Degun, Gurdain Rayatt, Fantasia Orchestra, Tom Fetherstonhaugh - Smith Square Hall (Photo: Pablo Strong)") |
| Jasdeep Singh Degun, Gurdain Rayatt, Fantasia Orchestra, Tom Fetherstonhaugh – Smith Sq. Corridor (Picture: Pablo Robust) |
Degun is a historically educated sitar participant, and his most up-to-date disc Jogkauns (on Actual World Information) is structured as a conventional Indian classical live performance, presenting the whole lot of the music inside a single raag. However after I interviewed him in 2023 [see my interview] he described himself as only a’random man from Leeds’, and collaboration has all the time been necessary. For this live performance we heard varied strands of Degun’s performing profession alongside the enterprising Fantasia Orchestra. Degun and Featherstonhaugh’s eclectic programme had an actual daring to it but in addition a sense of enjoyment. You sensed that In C was an actual problem, however the performers sheer pleasure on the finish was fully entrancing.
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