From the same October 2011 recording session as the Grammy Award (2012) winning album, The Living Room Sessions, Part 2, is Ravi Shakar's brilliant, amazing, innovative last hurrah, for he would die a year later at the venerable age of 92. He is joined on tabla by Tanmoy Bose and treble and bass tanpura drones. Three ragas are presented, each fairly brief with focus on melodic improvisations. Mishra Kafi, which is usually associated with the the late spring night, denotes the careful introduction of notes from other scales. The tempo is 14-beat deepchandi, 3-4-3-4. While the alap was interesting, the following gat is stunningly beautiful, gentle, and as contented as a fragrant evening. The second raga, Sindhi Bhairavi, is a classic mode of the late morning often performed in a light style. The gat is entered immediately in 6-beat dadra, 3-3. The mood is tender with a touch of melancholy. Suddenly, we hear Shankar's voice vocalising (he must have been very moved). Bose soon shifts into 16 beat teental and the moods similarly shifts to passion. We can hear Shankar's utterances of approval as he explores the raga scale and the spaces within the tal. I have never before heard Shankar perform such limited note improvisations, suggestive of a bluesman. Toward the end, Bose solos while Shankar, well, experiments with strumming and muting, creating unusual sounds for the sitar. The Bhairavi feel continues in the final track with the unadorned raga. Teental is played throughout and Shankar experiments further with a slight muffling of the plucked strings. The crispness, the staccato impresses even the maestro as he plays. It is North Indian sitar playing for the 21st century--exploratory, novel, virtuosic, wonderful, utter enjoyment. The producers saved the best for last. This album must be studied profoundly by all musicians and also fans of Shankar and Hindustani music. It is a milestone recording for its power, not merely its chronology.I have listened to Ravi Shankar for decades. I immediately sensed a sense of exploration and fun from the beginning of this release, and Part 1, previously released. When I learned Ravi was playing with a friend on Tablas in his living room, I was immediately interested in seeing what he was up to. Ravi had come full circle to a sense to being a kid again. At the very end of Part 2 we hear him say "That was fun", giggle giggle.I also have Part 1 of The Living Room Sessions and I find this album to be even more enjoyable. Ravi is still incredibly unique and this may be some of his most experimental playing. He really explores tone in a way I have not heard him do before. Sound quality is excellent.Exquisite sound. It is less complicated than his prior recordings,... but infinitely smoother, very gentle, with a touch of sadness that these 2 CD's were his last. They have the touch of a long farewell! I wonder if he knew that and was saying goodbye through his mesmerizing music!My husband thought this was an outstanding gift to find in his stocking this year for the holidays. It is a beautiful recording.it was intimate, and lovely. I have everything by Shankar and his daughter. This was among the best I thoughtSecond bottleThis is good, but it is always such a shame to realize that, in trying to make Hindustani Classical Music digestable to Western audiences, and also because of the time limitations of vinyl LPs, Panditji chose to play very short Alaps (generally).Still, his genius shines through.A avoir absolument dans sa bibliothèque musicale.Parfais pour s'évader en Inde . Très beau Mantra pour les amateurs de spiritualité .