“The Adagio (from Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence) was practically an operatic scene: Mr. Perlman’s violin, a coy soprano, was wooed by ardent baritone lines from Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, a charismatic cellist.”
-New York Times
“... remarkabaly clean and precise playing... offering, from the cello, elegant solos, resonant pizzicato lines and wonderfully comical triple stops.”
-The Strad
(From debut at Severance Hall playing Beethoven “Triple” concerto)
“Pianist Sergei Babayan, violinist Annie Fullard and cellist Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir managed their roles with bravura and sensitivity....Thorsteinsdottir's lyrical warmth adding dramatic flair and chamber-music intimacy.”
-Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Often, the piece seems to want to break free of its piano quartet restraints and become a cello concerto; Thorsteinsdottir was certainly up to the task."
-Boston Musical Intelligencer
"Dvorak seemed to favor the cello, and gave Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir wonderful unctuous melodies to perform, which she did beautifully."
- Times Union (Albany)
“…a white-hot performance of a portion of Bedrich Smetana's piano trio in G minor…
The second triumph of the evening came…when Noah Bendix-Balgley, violin; Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, cello; and Tania Tachkova, piano, tore into the fierce beauty of Smetana's Trio in G minor (Op. 15) with abandon.
The Presto movement of the trio is a study in contrasts: High-energy dance rhythms suddenly interrupted by achingly beautiful lyricism. As such, it requires both energy and repose, both strong attack and lovely tone. It received all that in abundance.”
- Sarasota Tribune
“Music in the leading role”
From the first note of the opening piece (Bach Suite in C major) it was clear, that Sæunn is a preeminent cellist. Not only was each and every tone clear and beautifully formed, but the interpretation was also enjoyably free, while still being stylistic and true to the spirit of the composer.
Most of the time Sæunn played with her eyes closed. She obviously felt the music so strongly, that it almost seemed that she would not be on the stage at all, but in some totally different world. That made it easy for the listener to fly away with her.
The overgrown self-importance of an artist should not be in the leading role of a performance, but the music, and in this concert, the music really was.
The cellogenious Mstislav Rostropovich was called Slava, and the next piece on the program (Per Slava by Penderecki) is dedicated to him. The piece is mostly played with major and minor second intervals that slowly create a magnificant web of tones which Sæunn accomplished perfectly.
Same can be said about the majestic Sonata for Solo Cello, Op 8 of the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, which has both amazing verses and which consitutes significant technical requirements for the cellist. The Sonate makes demands on the listeners as well, and people must listen to it more than once in order to truly take it in - and the Sonate grows during every listening. Therefore it can be said, that it was a bit bold of Sæunn to have it as the last piece in her debut concert, but it did succeed in every way. The Sonate was geniously performed; the spirit of the music was exactly as it should be and the technical matters were mastered.
We can safely welcome Sæunn into the front row of Icelandic musicians.
- Morgunblaðið: The Morning Paper (Iceland)