OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Organist Chelsea Chen at Pasadena Presbyterian Church

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Chelsea Chen, organist
Monday, May 9, 2011 • Pasadena Presbyterian Church
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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 Dupré’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 Dupré, 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 Fauré’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 Duruflé’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.
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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 Lisieux Catholic Church in Alhambra.
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.