Kolkata’s Effem Ensemble impresses with big Western Classical music

The proactive patronage that comes to Western Classical music in Kolkata was in perfect evidence at the house concert presented by the students of Fauzia Marikar and the Effem Ensemble on Saturday. Effem, which takes its name from Marikar’s initials, got the required boost some years ago, from one of her own students, Varun Thapar, who took the onus on himself to host such concerts, in tandem with supporting the musicians every month.

Thapar is a young, dynamic business personality, carrying on the mantle of the KCT group, a leading Indian conglomerate, with this passion for pushing the tide of Western Classical music. And there is Marikar, a brilliant pianist, performer and teacher, originally from a musical family in Sri Lanka, who has had scores of students grow under her tutelage, and who today enhances the talents of a small dedicated set of musicians to up the ante and play a challenging repertoire in the Effem Ensemble.

The recent concert flaunted a wide range of composers and the performance at the elegant home of Thapar, in his classic booklined study full of great art, felt like a salon in Europe, complete with its Steinway grand piano and a roomful of music aficionados.

I loved the format of the evening when we came in to the strains of some introductory music Death of Ace and Anitra’s Dance — played by a young duo and a perfectly executed Chopin Nocturne by gifted pianist Aishani Pal. Guests mingled with performers at a lavish high tea and then we were back to an hour and a half of Mozart, Dvořák, Bach, Chopin, Schubert, Shostakovich presented alternately by the Effem string quartet and the pianists. This duality of approach is what kept up the tempo and the texture of the evening.

The Effem Ensemble, with Dibyokamal Mitra, Sovan Adhikary, Subroto Pramanick and Somnath Makhal, started off with Mozart’s Divertimento in D, a well-known piece played with elan. They continued with Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 12, which was followed by Aishani Pal’s rendering of Brahms and Scarlatti, and a coming together of strings and piano for the very popular haunting Waltz No 2 by Shostakovich.

Young Dhiman Narayan, all of 18, performed Bach’s Italian concerto, a couple of Chopin Preludes, Schubert’s Impromptu No 3 and a spirited Odeon with its tango lilt, finally opening up the stage for the last thought-provoking music.

For the end was a rousing first two movements of the Shostakovich String Quartet No 8 in C Minor which were full of agony and sorrow showing what the first violinist Dibyokamal Mitra explained to us – his relationship between his music and his attitudes towards the Soviet government.

A bold move by Marikar, this last set of pieces. She wants them to aim for perfection, she says and continues to teach despite the shortcomings of the various surgeries that have left her home bound, but with an unflagging spirit. Thus it is that she takes up online teaching as well and the musicians who gravitate to her home get a mix of music appreciation, and performances push up. Marikar had explained to me on another occasion about the reason for having an ensemble. “There is no room for ‘ego’ here, no matter how diverse be the background, once the unit sits down to playing the music. The director chooses the music, carefully, within the scope and ability of her musicians and listens and advises on matters of interpretation.”

These pockets of excellence in music appreciation and performance add to its cultural depth and Kolkata can look forward to more carefully curated concerts that speak to true lovers — and performers — of Western Classical music.