Music Reviews : Hakan Rosengren in Recital at Ambassador

It is always great fun to discover a young musician whose virtuosity is matched by his artistry. The pleasure is even greater when the performer selects a program as varied and provocative as the one clarinetist Hakan Rosengren assembled at Ambassador Auditorium.

Rosengren opened with Poulenc’s witty and mercurial Sonata, a work that effectively showcased his dynamic range and digital skill. Although his chalumeau notes did not project particularly well, one had to admire his exceptionally soft, sustained pianissimo lines.

But it was in Rosengren’s supremely refined, nearly flawless account of Debussy’s Premiere rapsodie that his wide dynamic range, superb technical control and instinct for nuance proved most gratifying. As in the other works, pianist Anders Kilstrom proved a sympathetic and stylish partner.

The Monday program included two contemporary works. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin’s “Yugen” is an economically constructed, six-minute essay that employs such contemporary techniques as pitch-bending and multiphonics. Poul Ruders’ “Throne,” composed for Rosengren and heard in its West Coast premiere Monday, treats the piano as a single-line instrument that frequently doubles or accentuates part of the clarinet’s melody.

The one Germanic work--and the one pre-20th-Century work (1894)--on the program was the least successful. Phrasing Brahms’ F-minor Sonata almost like an example of French Impressionism, the Swedish clarinetist failed to sustain adequately the composer’s musical thought.