By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily
News

______________________

Chelsea Chen,
organist

Monday, May 9, 2011 Pasadena Presbyterian Church

______________________

This has been quite a 24-hour period for organ lovers and
for young organists. Sunday night, 30-year-old Cameron Carpenter made his Walt
Disney Concert Hall recital debut. (LINK) Last night, 27-year-old San Diego
native Chelsea Chen played an impressive recital at Pasadena Presbyterian
Church sponsored by the Los Angeles and Orange County chapters of the American
Guild of Organists.

The church’s large instrument — with 6,366 pipes in 111
ranks it’s slightly larger than the Disney Hall instrument and one of the
largest in Southern California — was originally built by the Aeolian-Skinner
company in the “American Classic” style. It’s eminently suited for French
literature, and Chen’s program leaned heavily on that genre, beginning with a
probing performance of Marcel Dupr’s Prelude and Fugue in G Minor.

As was the case with Carpenter’s program, Chen used several
transcriptions in her recital but what a difference in choices! After the Dupr,
Chen played Leon Roques’ transcription of Debussy’s Arabesque Suite No. 2, using a variety of registrations (including
the balcony Echo organ) to achieve graceful effects — what a difference this
piece makes when played on the organ. That sense of graceful delicacy continued
with a playful performance of four movements from Faur’s Dolly Suite, Op. 56, as arranged by Maurice Clerc.

To conclude the first half, Chen was joined by violinist
Lewis Wong, whom she met in 2005 while they were studying at Juilliard. Their
vehicle was the final two movements of Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 2 for Flute and
Piano that the pair transcribed winningly for organ and violin. Except for a
couple of fleeting moments, this was the most un-Prokofiev piece I’ve ever
heard but Chen and Wong played it with lightly and partnered each other
sensitively.

After intermission, Chen concluded with Maurice Durufl’s
Prelude, Adagio and Chorale Variations on Veni
Creator, a performance that began in mysterious quiet and gradually built
to a dramatic, full-throated conclusion. Chen’s elegant performing style is a
pleasure to watch and her registration choices and prodigious technique made
this a highly pleasurable evening from first note to last.

For the single encore, Chen and Wong continued their
emphasis on lyrical grace with a Taiwanese folk song, which translates as Anticipating the Spring.

_______________________

Hemidemisemiquavers:

During a preconcert dinner, Robert Prichard was made an
honorary life member of the Los Angeles AGO chapter. Prichard was organist for
nearly 30 years at Pasadena Presbyterian Church (during the last decade he was
also music director) and was instrumental in designing the Aeolian-Skinner
organ when it was installed in the church’s old sanctuary in 1961. Prichard is currently
organist and music director at St. Therese of Liseux Catholic Church in Alhambra.

_______________________

(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Portions may be quoted with attribution.