Acclaim

“Passage is an inspired debut album, on which Longleash is tethered to tight playing and bound together in lucid interpretations of the music.”   – Paul Steenhuisen

“As a debut album, Passage is both ambitious and sincere. An ensemble like Longleash could easily spend its career playing only its standard classical repertoire: Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Brahms, and Schumann, perhaps adding Ives as a token eccentric, but Longleash shows no intention of doing so. The trio’s members have proven that they have a very different vision for their ensemble, and I look forward to hearing their next project.” – Kathleen McGowan

“Longleash plays vivaciously, expressively, and with keen virtuosity that extends to a host of extended techniques.”

“Passage  demonstrates that even in the midst of the advanced techniques now again in vogue in the early 21st century, there are a plethora of manners of deployment of these materials. The performers are top notch advocates for composers at the vanguard of the second modern movement. One can envision a bright future for both Longleash and the composers they champion.” – Christian Carey

“Longleash masterfully subvert one of classical music’s most treasured instrumental contexts—the piano/violin/cello trio—with a dazzling assortment of pieces collected from composers working around the globe on Passage , an album both bracing and tender. This instrumental setup was popular in the 19th century with composers like Schubert, Mendelssohn, and, especially Haydn (who wrote 45 works for such trios). Here, violinist Pala Garcia, cellist John Popham, and pianist Renate Rohlfing boldly reinvent the sound for the 21st century.” – Peter Margasak

“On this fifty-five-minute collection, Garcia, Popham, and Rohlfing achieve something not only difficult but rather remarkable, too, in vividly maximizing the musicality and accessibility of uncompromisingly experimental pieces. To make such challenging material feel so inviting is a testament to Longleash’s fully engaged performances of the works presented.” – Ron Schepper

“The playing is fearlessly accomplished, the most outré effects realised with confident ease.” – Graham Rickson

“The trio instrumentalists are put through their paces and handle the complexities with assurance and exceptional musicianship, so that the core of the music comes through with a speech-like naturalness, with phrasings that work together for a cohesive horizontal and vertical logic that is clear and directionally artful.” – Grego Applegate Edward

“And in Passing Through, Staying Put (2011) by Christopher Trapani, some lovely unison glissandos were followed by pointed pizzicatos, tumbling together in the hands of this expert young trio.”

“…there was no denying the meticulous and subtle musicianship on display.” – Bruce Hodges

“The Longleash Trio navigated an incredible breadth of musical styles with technical expertise and expressive innovation. Keep an eye out for future perfomances from them.” – Zoë Gorman