by Melanie Wong
As if winning the Principal Clarinet position with the Louisiana
Philharmonic Orchestra last September wasn’t enough, 21-year-old Christopher
Pell made headlines last month after stepping up to deliver
Copland’s Clarinet Concerto when guest soloist Jose Franch-Ballester fell ill
just minutes before the performance. Pell was on home turf this past Saturday, though, as the young clarinetist
gave his final recital at The Juilliard School, where he is still currently enrolled as an undergraduate student.
Pell prepared a challenging program, opening with one of the
more modern standards in the clarinet repertoire, Robert
Muczynski’s Time Pieces. Pell tackled the innumerable
technical passages with ease and glided gracefully through the melodies with
beautiful tone. Time Pieces’ many
technical challenges can scare even some of the best clarinetists, and though Pell
performed quite well, it was all a bit musically safe.
Second on the program was the Brahms Sonata No. 1. Another physically
taxing piece clocking in at 22 minutes, Pell appropriately executed the beautiful phrasing, making it easy to mistake his performance for the popular recording of
his current teacher, Jon Manasse (the principal with American Ballet Theater, and faculty at
both the Juilliard and Eastman schools). Again, however, even though the work was neatly performed,
the piece lacked some of the dramatic, romantic energy Brahms typically
inspires, feeling a little spoon-fed overall.
After intermission Pell performed Mozart's famous Clarinet Quintet. Here, the young musician truly excelled, playing with energy, style,
and a lightness of tone perfect for the composer's works. Although Pell played
phenomenally, the same could not be said for his string quartet, who remained
horribly out of tune throughout—with both themselves and the group. The end
of the school year can be rough, with auditions, finals, and probably many
other recitals to perform in, but maybe someone should have reminded them that every trip to the stage requires practice and dedication.
All in all, it was a very respectable performance by the capable
young musician. Pell’s charming stage presence and humble attitude, combined with
his rich tone and technical competence, made him a pleasure to watch and hear. His musical shortcomings will certainly fix themselves with time and experience, making Pell a rising star on the classical circuit.
Pell's recent LPO performance of Copland's Clarinet Concerto. (Photo credit: The Times-Picayune)