Harrell and Mulligan in a Showy Recital

In his flamboyant and deeply charged playing style, Lynn Harrell has been giving recitals hereabout for years, often with one or another distinguished and famous pianistic colleague. The American cello virtuoso, currently London-based, returned Sunday night, with a new pianist in tow, but this one proved to be an unknown.

His name is Simon Mulligan; he is 23 and London born; Harrell discovered him at the Royal Academy of Music, where the cellist used to teach. Mulligan deserves the opportunity afforded by this U.S. debut tour as he showed in the duo’s showy, satisfying, warmly communicative performance in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Here was a wide-ranging program, including sonatas by Boccherini, Beethoven and Chopin, and character-pieces by Ginastera and Dvorak, every piece handsomely re-created, each in its particular style and with a sweeping emotionalism and impeccable detailing.

Harrell’s preeminence as a recitalist remains unquestioned, his immediate connection to his audience unimpeded. One can take his technique for granted; even better, one can rely on the authority he brings to every score he essays.

Mulligan’s pianism dazzled, as much for its quiet ease as its broad achievement. He never underplayed, yet he never overshadowed his partner; his dynamic and coloristic range at the keyboard promises much.

After the program proper, Harrell introduced four encores: his own transcription of Schubert’s song “Nacht und Traume”; Mulligan’s solo performance of Chopin’s D-flat Nocturne, Opus 27, No. 2; Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words (written for cello and piano), Opus 109; and “Presto, Presto,” by Francois Francoeur.