Thiruvasagam in Symphony

i have bought the TiS of Illayaraja.. and have read now tonnes of reviews on the same... most of the reviews go overboard in terms of the accolades heaped on IR.. which is understandable, as till now no Indian has gone for such an attempt..

however there are some things which are playing on my mind..

based on whatever he has done so far, IR is a genius, no doubt..

he is such a prolific composer who has given a few thousands of songs in close to a thousand films.. a whole load of those songs define the lives of many who are his fans.. this kind of connection for a creator with his audience is just brilliant.. and when a guy like that comes out with a totally new effort we are going to go nuts..and its easy to go overboard..

this attempt by IR surely needs the listener to be appreciative of the form of music, much like a modern art painting.. with a little help, many can surely appreciate a modern art, am sure..

so...a critical review of TiS, with a little help to the general but discerning listener as to what makes this special, is still missing... or probably it is there in some of the reviews.. i could've missed it amidst all the superlatives...

as for my reaction, it was amazing to listen to the blend of classic tamil verses mixed on a western symphonic score, and surprising to hear IR's choice of his own voice really suiting the effort.. as for the complexities of the score, am not competent enough to compehend what has gone into these compositions...