Reviews 2010

“Ms. Aznavoorian, with Mr. Tinney's sensitive touch in tow, captured the intimacy and energy of the work [Zemlinsky’s 3 pieces for cello and piano, op.3].
Dipping back to the early 19th century, the concert hit a different sort of high with the Beethoven piece [Violin Sonata, op 96 in G]...On this night, the sonata was admirably realized by the always precise and properly expressive Ms. Leonard and her regular collaborator, Mr. Tinney. The pair has been working on the Beethoven Sonatas, and empathetic, collective poise and personality were evident here.”

Josef Woodard, Santa Barbara News-Press

“ [Ani] Aznavoorian and Tinney opened the evening with Zemlinsky’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano, Op. 3 ... There’s a renewal of interest in Zemlinsky among musicians right now, and it was easy to hear why with such an apt and expressive pairing as these two players .
[Catherine] Leonard and Tinney have a long standing collaboration on the Beethoven violin sonatas, and their approach to the No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 was at once restrained and lyrical, allowing the composition to be heard on its own terms, rather than through the muffler of an overwrought interpretation ... Tinney managed to make things work on several levels, and Leonard was her usual self—passionate, intelligent, and supremely musical. It’s a treat to hear this kind of music played at such a rare level of sympathetic understanding.”

Charles Donelan, Santa Barbara Independent

“In conjunction with its exhibition [“Vertical Thoughts – Morton Feldman and the Visual Arts”], IMMA also presents a number of Feldman compositions complementing the artists on show. One, devoted to his piano piece, “Triadic Memories”, had Hugh Tinney spellbinding his audience in a 90-minute pianissimo marathon.”

Pat O’Kelly, Irish Independent

“There’s no denying the fact that Morton Feldman is a divisive composer. The simplest description of his Triadic Memories for piano, written in 1981, six years before the composer’s death at the age of 61, tells you why. The piece is so long, slow and soft that there are listeners who will simply not be able to endure it.
Hugh Tinney’s performance on Saturday, given in conjunction with the Imma exhibition, Vertical Thoughts, Morton Feldman and the Visual Arts , was at once lulling and disorienting, as the composer would have wanted it to be...
Saturday’s performance was wonderful in its control of tone colour and in the patience with which Tinney allowed the music to unfold. The exercise is as fascinating as alchemy, and potentially as dubious. But, however obvious it may seem to say so, Feldman chose his musical gestures extraordinarily well, and, with Tinney as his committed advocate, created a drifting, hypnotic soundscape that transformed the potentially mundane into a kind of slow, irresistible vortex – or should that be anti-vortex? Yes. There were a number of defections from the audience. But the response at the end was hearty and rousing, the sharp edges and volume of the applause coming as a real shock after the sheer quietness of the music.”

Michael Dervan, Irish Times