Following the grand tradition set by their guru, the duo excelled in the authentic version of Carnatic music bringing together its technicalities to develop a taste for this patantara in the audience, both the experts and the laymen, alike.
Venkatesa Iyer accompanied the Alathur Brothers on the harmonium in their first concert, which was held in 1928 at the Tyagaraja Aradhana at Tiruvaiyaru.
Venkatesa Iyer was instrumental in bringing out a large number of krithis of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal of Travancore.
He shined and polished rare compositions of great composers like Meesu Krishna Iyer of the preceding century.
A strict disciplinarian and an unflinching traditionalist, he taught students such Sarojini Sundaresan, Trichy J. Venkatraman, Chengelput Ranganathan, Clarinet A. K. C. Natarajan, who though numbering few, have in good stead been the torch bearers of the Alathur style.