Sonata in F sharp Op 78 - Beethoven

Sonata in E flat Op 7 - Beethoven

Sonata in E flat Op 81a (Les Adieux) - Beethoven

Sonata in A flat Op 110 - Beethoven

HUGH Tinney concluded his two-recital exploration of Beethoven piano sonatas at the RDS on Monday. The playing was altogether more finely balanced than in the first of his recitals, in January, and the classical poise that seemed to be the performer's ultimate aim was achieved with consistency and apparent ease.

The lightness of interpretative touch, what you might call Tinney's willingness to be a transparent medium communicating Beethoven's message, was at its most effective in the first half of the evening. The two-movement Sonata in F sharp, Op 78, needs that sort of approach, and doesn't respond at all well to more personality-driven styles.

The Sonata in E flat, Op. 7 (the first piano sonata that Beethoven had published independently and not as part of a set) conforms in its slow movement to the characteristic probing depths that are such a feature of the early sonatas. But elsewhere there is a wealth of detail that intriguingly challenges any notions of a stereotypical Beethovenian manner.

The two later sonatas, Les Adieux, Op 81a, and the Sonata in A flat, Op. 110, really require a greater sense of their undercurrents than Tinney seemed prepared to divulge on this occasion. Pianistically, however, his playing was always a pleasure.