When verses find melody

The capital witnessed an exquisite presentation of German romantic music along with some poems from Vikram Seth’s repertoire on Friday evening at the Information Centre, Baha’i House of Worship, commonly known as the Lotus Temple. The event was attended by several music and literature enthusiasts who enjoyed the joyous musical performance of the group as the melodious piano tunes blended with the euphonious voices. 

‘Tales of the night’ was a musical concert comprising romantic songs in German, conducted in a week-long tour which started in Bangalore on Monday, continued in Delhi on Friday and came to a conclusion in Pune on Sunday. The creative event held in the national Capital was produced by Akademia (France), a European vocal and instrumental ensemble and The Vocal Academy of India. 

The team consisted of a 25 member choir which was conducted by Francoise Lasserre. 

The musical presentation including the vocals and instrumentation was punctuated with poems written by well-known author Vikram Seth, which had been narrated by well-known news and current affairs anchor, Sunit Tandon.

Vikram Seth who was present at the event sat amongst high profile guests, accompanied by his mother Justice Leila Seth. 

The 63-year-old renowned poet and author said: “The poems have been very nicely read, it is always better to hear them read in a quiet way rather than too exaggeratedly. It is a nicely composed event with night songs and evening poems. And I’m glad that there weren’t any applause in between, as that might have ruined the mood”.

When asked why he himself did not narrate the poems, he said: “Actually, I was not sure that I’d be in town and besides I find it rather stressful to do something like that”, laughed the poet recognised for ‘Mappings’ and ‘Beastly Tales’. 

Music compositions of classical composers like Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn and Johannes Brahms were performed in two halves of the event, while during intervals of the music, Sunit Tandon recited extracts from some extraordinary poems of Vikram Seth. 

Compositions like Zigeunerleben, Mondnacht, Standchen, Die Nacht and many more were performed by the team that had the audience in a spell, and set the perfect romantic tone for the evening.