Catherine Leonard and Hugh Tinney enjoy a remarkable musical partnership that has been beautifully captured on their first CD for RTÉ lyric fm.
When Beethoven died early in 1827, it is said that 10,000 people attended his funeral. Famed for the brilliance of his piano and symphonic works, he also played the violin and viola and wrote 10 sonatas for violin and piano. Of these, the F major (Op. 24) ‘Spring’ and the A Major (Op.47) ‘Kreutzer’ are the most celebrated.
On The Kreutzer Sonata and other works Catherine Leonard and Hugh Tinney perform these sonatas with a mix of skill and feeling which comes from lives utterly devoted to music making. The ‘Spring’ sonata, so called because of the way the music gently unfolds at the beginning, is a testament to the composer’s own love of nature. The ’Kreutzer’ sonata has long been seen as one of the great challenges in chamber music repertoire; a challenge that Catherine Leonard and Hugh Tinney meet with ease as a seamless and intimate duo. Two shorter works, a Beethoven Rondo and Kreisler Rondino complete the CD.