Review of Naxos cd in Fanfare magazine by Robert Maxham

The first movement of Ravel’s Violin Sonata (and, perhaps, the sonata in general) seems to send the violin and piano on their separate ways, solving the problem of their compatibility by a method akin to that of cutting the Gordian knot. Joseph Szigeti made the most of this quizzical relationship, deploying a tone that, if not pleasant, at least sounded hauntingly protean. In the first movement, Frederieke Saeijs creates a similar wealth of timbral detail that, by playing it straight, violinists like Grumiaux missed. If she doesn’t sound edgy in the tremolo passages, she’s generally as skilled in finding an appropriate shading for each passage, and pianist van Bueren shares her ear for tonal nuance. The blues movement in her reading seems down and dirty enough, even if the slides appear at times more fussy than seductive. The 1727 Pietro Guarneri (of Venice) seems to possess all the tonal resources she requires in the sonorously dissonant climax. Her opening gesture in the perpetual-motion finale seems to presage a more delicate performance than she gives the movement, which sounds athletic and energetic; when the violin and piano come together, as they do at the ends of the finale and the first movement, she and van Bueren deliver irresistible perorations. The duo sounds more atmospheric than did Dong-Suk Kang and Pascal Devoyon on Naxos’s 1989 recording of the sonata (8.550276), which I’ve always enthusiastically recommended.

Saeijs and van Bueren adopt a much darker manner in the first movement of Respighi’s sonata, with van Bueren warming to its large-scale romantic gestures and Saeijs producing a somewhat slender tonal counterpart, as did Kyung-Wha Chung (Deutsche Grammophon 427 617-2, Fanfare 13:6). That’s not to say that she can’t—or, in fact, doesn’t—rise to the movement’s grandiloquent statements. Heifetz also recorded this sonata (with Emanuel Bay in 1950), and her ear for subtle inflection may remind listeners of his, though she lacks his almost continuous laser-like focus. Much of the interest in the movement arises from her ongoing dialogue with van Bueren, as congenial here as it may have been antagonistic (appropriately so) in Ravel’s sonata. Van Bueren displays in the opening of the second movement an affecting expressive range; once again, the dialogue between the two players seems now gently intimate, now rapt, and, at times, nearly ecstatic. The Passacaglia requires from the duo great musical and tonal strength, two attributes that marked Heifetz’s playing in general. But Saeijs, if she doesn’t match him, calls upon reserves of power in its most declamatory moments that makes her reading both credible and creditable; van Bueren thunders with titanic energy in the final pages.

Granados’s sonata, the program’s least familiar work, came to light, according to Caroline Waight’s notes, in 1971. In its brief duration (under 12 minutes), the sonata, dedicated to Jacques Thibaud, explores what may seem to many listeners, after Ravel’s and Respighi’s sonatas, less mountainous terrain, though it demands delicate sensitivity to its style. Just as the players penetrated the respective manners of Ravel and Respighi, the duo also seems to attune itself quickly to Granados’s idiom, with its recurring arabesques and gutty declamations on the G string (which may remind violin aficionados of Thibaud).

The engineers balanced the violin and piano during the sessions from September 11–13, 2006, in the Rabobank Zaal of the Muziekcentrum Frits Philips in Einhoven, sparing listeners undue reverberation without loss of warmth. Urgently recommended for their stylistic penetration and general musical insight, as well as for their tonal attractiveness and technical security, the performances should appeal to all kinds of listeners. Robert Maxham

Review of Naxos cd on Music Web by Jonathan Woolf:

This trio of attractively sophisticated and elegant performances has lain in the vaults for over three years. The Ravel sonata is a vehicle for the Saeijs-van Bueren duo’s rather classicist credentials in which the ensemble is solid and impressive, and the emotive gestures kept within the kind of established boundaries expected of such an approach. So, for instance, Frederieke Saeijs’s vibrato is nicely paced but not especially fast nor indeed wide. It’s a rather aristocratic approach, one that makes even Grumiaux sound fervid. Whereas it’s becomes a bit of a thing to camp up the Blues movement, here instead we find discreet dynamics, a degree of reserve, and glissandi that do their work without becoming engorged. So too the pizzicati, which ricochet without being bent into shapes of post-Bop origami. The attitude here, whilst not without its dramatic element, is more one of a ghostly nocturnal, at least until the banjo impressions kick in.

The Respighi sonata is getting its due on disc these days. We no longer have to look back nostalgically to the days of Heifetz and Shumsky. The sonata’s romanticist credentials are neatly demarcated via some telling portamenti, and by the piano’s rolling authority. Saeijs reserves her greatest tonal and timbral weight for this sonata, drawing on a greater range of tone colours when necessary and greater bowing weight too, quite rightly. Playing the tempestuous central passages of the slow movement with controlled passion is not a given in performances of this work but that’s how it’s done here. One respects the tempo at which they take the Passacaglia finale and it’s the kind of tempo that quite a few duos take, but I’ve always felt that a more determinist policy pays greater dividends and the kind of tempo adopted by Heifetz, or by Josef Suk drives the movement forward with inexorable drama. Still, this new duo has the virtue of consistency.

The Granados sonata is something of an anomaly, a brief one movement work written (date yet to be determined) for Jacques Thibaud. It was first published in 1971. This again suits Saeijs by virtue of its purity of line and elegance, and without any obviously sinuous Iberian rhythms to propel, the executants are more reliant on exploring its songful, quasi-improvised lyricism.

For those who want a measured, refined purview of these works this well recorded disc will fit the bill nicely.

Jonathan Woolf

David Denton

David's Review Corner, December 2009

Taking all of the major awards in the 2005 Long-Thibaud International Violin Competition launched Frederieke Saeijs onto the international stage. Here she plays three of the sonatas composed in the first quarter of the 20th century—if we have correctly guessed the original date of the Granados score—though they were written in very contrasting styles. Ravel had embraced the modern era, jazz shaping his second movement in the style of a sexy Blues, the violin squeezing out those seductive slides and pizzicato passages that are saucy in their rhythmic layout. By complete contrast Respighi was looking back to the last years of Romanticism with Richard Strauss as its starting point. If Ravel was all about the instrument’s silvery tone, Respighi requires weight for his impassioned climatic moments, the bittersweet slow movement leading to a Passacaglia of Germanic intensity. It is the pianist who is mostly presented with the task of generating that weight, here readily taken up by Maurice Lammerts van Bueren. It was Jacques Thibaud—the famous violinist who gave his name to the Paris competition—who inspired the Granados sonata, and though he took it into his repertoire, it remained unpublished until 1971. In one short movement, the thematic music evolved into an eclectic rhapsody that I would never have expected from the composer. Saeijs’s magnificent Guarnerius provides the robust quality on which the Respighi thrives, and I have equally enjoyed her Granados where van Bueren’s accompaniment dances around her melodic line with considerable joy. They take a very classical view of the Ravel, looking at the subtle rather than the primary colours, and offer a new slant on the usual outgoing virtuosity. The recording quality is excellent

Scottish Fantasy by Bruch with Duisburger Philharmoniker under Jonathan Darlington, June 2010

Frederieke Saeijs bij Muziekkring Eemland

Voor de trouwe bezoekers van de muziekkring is Frederieke Saeijs zeker geen onbekende. Zij speelde reeds enkele malen hier o.a. met het Pianotrio Pantoum. Met enkele mensen van de muziekkring waren we bij haar eindexeamen van het Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, een studie die zij afsloot met een hoogst zelden uitgereikte 10 met onderscheiding voor “creatieve muzikaliteit”. Kort daarop ging zij naar de Verenigde Staten waar zij verder studeerde aan de Indiana University en weer later won zij de eerste prijs op het prestigieuze concours Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud, met als gevolg veel concerten wereldwijd. Daarbij is ze nu ook verbonden als hoofdvakdocent aan het Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag. Ondanks dit alles was ze toch bereid voor de muziekkring op te treden. Zo konden wij haar zondagmiddag, 13 december beluisteren samen met de uit Georgië afkomstige pianiste Nino Gvetadze, die het porgramma opende met drie Walsen van Fréderic Chopin. Mooi, virtuoos en met veel fantasie gespeeld en om nog even in de sfeer te blijven speelden zij samen nog 2 Nocturnes van Chopin, bewerkt door Saint-Saëns voor viool en piano. Het programma werd voortgezet met twee sonates. Eerst sonate no.1 op.10 uit een serie van 6 van Carl Mria von Weber, een van zijn betrekkelijk weinige kamermuziekwerken.. Aardige stukken van een jong componist, die later beroemd zou worden met zijn opera`s Der Freischütz en Oberon. Als tweede sonate Schumans op.105 in a kl.t. Heerlijke romantische muziek met overgave en in prachtig samenspel gespeeld. Vooral het eerste deel “Mit leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck kreeg alles waar de componist om vroeg en daarna dat innige tweede deel. Ronduit prachtig. Na de pauze eerst de solosonate no.3 “Ballade” van de Belgische violist-componist Eugène Ysaye. Hij schreef zes sonates voor vioolsolo die hij opdroeg aan een zestal collega violisten, waaronder Szigeti, Thibaud en Kreisler en deze derde aan Georges Enesco, die bekend is geworden als de leraar van wonderkind Yehudi Menuhin. Het zijn bijzonder moeilijke virtuoze stukken, maar Frederieke had er zichtbaar en hoorbaar geen moeite mee. Het was werkelijk indrukwekkend. Tot besluit de beroemde sonate in A gr.t. van César Franck (opgedragen aan Eugène Ysaye!). Het duo speelde de sonate met grote intensiteit en het was opvallend hoe de pianiste, waar nodig, ruimte gaf aan de viool. Maar al te dikwijls wordt die verdrongen door het pianogeweld. Het succes was groot en het applaus langdurig. Een toegift volgde: een heel mooi gespeelde Melodie van Gluck in de bewerking van Kreisler. Zo eindigde dan een werkelijk prachtige middag.

"Bewitching violin, powerful orchestra

The Semana Musical de Llao Llao had its grand finale in a concert offered by the Santa Fe Orchestra featuring the dutch violinist Frederieke Saeijs.
Following the Beethoven Overture “Prometheus” came the astonishing Violin Concerto Op.61 in D Major from the same composer. During its performance, all the looks and attention from the audience that crowded the Hall were drawn to the captivating violinist.
After the orchestral exposition the violin made its first appearance with its wonderful language, that even if only a whisper, did not lose its power. The continuous exposure of the soloist was notable especially when the orchestra was quiet. These are the moments in which the soloist must show off all her resources. There are many violinists who do not accept the challenge of playing this piece, but Frederieke Saeijs captivated the auditorium. In her hands the instrument screams, cries, coos, speaks, suffers, laughs, clamors and touches. It also sings. Her sound is clear and limpid. The end was electrifying, and even the musicians from the orchestra burst into clapping.
Both orchestra and soloist responded to the enthusiastic and warm audience (that kept applauding) with varied encores. Frederieke Saeijs performed the Andante from the Sonata in a minor BWV 1005, whereas the orchestra chose Oblivion from Astor Piazzolla. When conductor Maestro Montenegro was asked about Frederieke Saeijs he stated: “We played together last week in Santa Fe. She is brilliant, a first class musician. I look forward to repeating the experience of conducting her concert."

Digital newspaper www.bariloche2000.com, October 2009

"Frederieke Saeijs created musical magic with her violin on a number of occasions, in her first North American appearances. Her performance of Bach's Chaconne in D Minor, a towering masterpiece, was most impressive. She brought the audience to its feet with a showstopper performance of Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy, including what has to be the fastest rendition of the finale that I have ever heard.
She concluded the week with an impressive account of Bach's A Minor Violin Concerto.
I've saved the best for the last. One of the joys of this Festival for musicians is the chance to play with other musicians they have never met before. In several concerts together, Leopoldo Erice and Frederieke Saeijs forged a memorable musical partnership, with the highest degree of integration and a clear sense of give and take between them. This was true in the Sarasate already mentioned, and in the arrangement for violin and piano of the de Falla songs.
The peak of the Erice/Saeijs collaboration came in the performance of Cesar Franck's monumental Sonata for Violin and Piano. This work requires immense power in some passages alongside great intimacy in others. Both artists met these difficult demands with energy and passion, and with coordination which was especially evident in the canonic passages of the finale. For once the Sonata seemed far too short! A memorable performance indeed."

Ken Stephen, July 2009

Article in Dutch newspaper AD by Arno Gelder, August 2008

"Met gloedvolle overgave speelde ze Chaconne van Bach, gevolgd door een luchtiger Fruhlingssonate van Beethoven. Saeijs besloot met een zinderende Zigeunerweisen van De Sarasate, waarin temperament en poezie een volmaakt huwelijk hadden gesloten."

"With glowing devotion she played the Chaconne by Bach, followed by a more light-hearted Fruhlingssonate by Beethoven. Saeijs concluded with a passionate Zigeunerweisen, in which temperament and poetry contracted a perfect marriage."

Wenneke Savenije in NRC Handelsblad, December 2007.

"..door de aristocratische stijl en de hemelse toon van violiste Frederieke Saeijs kwam het hoogstaande, lyrische karakter van de muziek mooi tot zijn recht."

"..with the aristocratic style and the heavenly sound of violinist Frederieke Saeijs, the sublime, lyrical character of the music beautifully appeared to its full advantage."

Aad van der Ven in the Haagsche Courant, September 2007.

" Tschaikovskys Violinkonzert ist eine Ikone der Romantik, bei dessen Auffuhrung man doch immer etwas Anst hat. Denn viele Geiger lieben es, das Werk mit Sentiment zu uberfrachten. Umso uberraschender die Wiedergabe durch die june hollandische Solistin Frederieke Saeijs, die mit klarer, in allen Lagen ausgewogener tongebung und frischem, jugendlichem Strich das Werk entstaubt. Im langsamen Satz bezaubert Frederieke Saeijs mit ihrer Kunst des leisen Spiels, wahrend sie im Schluss-Satz geradezu vor Virtuositat explodiert. Mit wieviel Tiefgang Frederieke Saeijs musiziert, beweist sie mit die Zugabe, das mit schlankem Vibrato innig ausgesungene Andante aus der 2. Soloviolinsonate von Johann Sebastian Bach.

" Tchaikovsky's violin concerto is an icon in the Romantic Period. Nevertheless its performances cause some fear, since many violinists love to overload the work with sentimentality. The more surprising was the interpretation by the young Dutch soloist Frederieke Saeijs, who shook the dust off the work with a clear, well-balanced sound in all positions, and a fresh, youthful touch of the bow. In the slow movement Frederieke Saeijs enchanted with her art of playing dolce, after which she exploded with virtuosity in the final movement. Frederieke Saeijs proved the depth of her musicianship in the encore, the modestly vibrated and intimately sung Andante from the 2nd solo sonata by Johann Sebastian Bach."

Monika Willer in Westfalenpost, August 2007.

"...le Concerto pour violon et orchestre de Berg. La soliste, la jeune Frederieke Saeijs, montre une grande maturite technique et artistique, dominant cette oeuvre, delicate entre toutes..."

"...the violin concerto by Alban Berg. The soloist, the young Frederieke Saeijs, shows great technical and artistic maturity, in her mastery of this most delicate work."

Robert Sabatier in La Gazette, May 2007

"On pouvait d'ailleurs n'avoir d'jeux que pour la soliste Frederieke Saeijs, apparition celeste vetue de blue diaphane, qui jouait le Concerto a la memoire d'un ange de Berg, avec une grande emotion. Elle deroulait un phrase sinueux, drapait ses demi-teintes dans la texture de l'orchestre, trouvait une allegresse juvenile pour evoquer la jeune morte. C'etait un moment fort et on etait decu qu'un bis ne permettre pas d'entendre toutes les couleurs de ce violon, qui trouvait sa lumiere au-dela du ciel."

"The soloist Frederieke Saeijs drew all attention with her celestial appearance dressed in delicate blue, when she played Berg's 'Concerto to the Memory of an Angel' with great emotion. She developped a sinuous phrasing, draped her intermediate colours in the texture of the orchestra, (and) found a youthful joy to evoke the deceased young girl. It was an intense moment and it was disappointing that an encore didn't allow (the public) to hear all the colours of this violin, which found its light beyond heaven."

Michele Fizaine in Midi Libre, May 2007.

"Saeijs oogstte met haar vertolking van het vioolconcert van Tchaikovski stormachtige bijval van het publiek."

"Saeijs received a huge ovation after her interpretation of the violin concerto by Tchaikovsky."

Herman Rosenberg in the Haagsche Courant in April 2007.

"Nog bijzonderder was het optreden van de Haagse violiste Frederieke Saeijs. De artist in residence van het festval bevindt zich al een heel eind op weg naar het meesterschap. Met een kleine glinstering in haar lichte toon of een subtiele frasering gaf Saeijs sommige frases extra glans."

"Even more special was the performance of the violinist Frederieke Saeijs from The Hague. The Artist in Residence of the festival is well on her way to become a true master. With a fine twinkle in her light sound or a subtle phrasing here and there Saeijs gave extra glow to the music."

Winand van de Kamp in the Haagsche Courant in April 2007.

"Le concert de Gala 2006: Un grand moment de musique.
Frederieke Saeijs a conclu la premiere part du concert avec le brio quón imaginait. La jeune violiniste hollandaise a su donner du nerf et du sens au Premier concerto de Bruch."

"The Gala performance 2006: A great moment of music. Frederieke Saeijs finished the first half of the concert with the liveliness that one would imagine. The young Dutch violinist managed to give spirit and meaning to the first concerto of Bruch."

"La violiniste hollandaise Frederieke Saeijs a instantanement impose sa presence scenique, son charisme et ses choix expressifs dans le Concerto no. 1 pour violon de Bruch."

"The Dutch violinist Frederieke Saeijs instantly transmitted her stage presence, her charisma and her expressive choices in violin concerto no.1 by Bruch."

La Scene, November 2006.

"Brillant duo violon et piano: La hollandaise Frederieke Saeijs a donne toute la mesure de ses talents de violoniste, en compagnie de son compatriote Maurice Lammerts van Bueren, brillant pianiste."

"Brilliant violin-piano duo: Frederieke Saeijs from The Netherlands showed all the aspects of her talent as a violinist, accompanied by her compatriot Maurice Lammerts van Bueren, a brilliant pianist."

La voix du Nord, August 2006

"Grand Prize winner Ms. Frederieke Saeijs delivered a performance that was full of youth and passion, and is set to make an impact on the international stage."

Nippon Paper Group, Tokyo, February 2006

"Frederieke Saeijs ontroert in Rotterdam: Frederieke Saeijs vond in Christoph Poppen een ideale partner voor haar intieme, onaards pure interpretatie van het Adagio KV 261 en het Rondo KV 373. De violiste is met haar integere, onopgesmukte spel een opvallende aanwinst voor de podia."

"Frederieke Saeijs touches hearts in Rotterdam: Frederieke Saeijs (1979) found an ideal partner in Poppen for her intimate and unearthly pure interpretation of the Adagio K261 and the Rondo K373. The violinist, who won the First Grand Prize and four extra prizes during the renowned Long-Tibaud competition in Paris in October, is a remarkable asset to the concert stage with her sincere and unembellished playing."

Bela Luttmer in Telegraaf, January 2006.

"Frederieke Saeijs maakt van het vioolconcert van Ludwig van Beethoven een indrukwekkend mooie gebeurtenis. Haar zijdenzachte toon, haar heldere fijnzinnige spel zingt boven het orkest uit zonder de feeling met de achterban te verliezen. Haar toonvorming is kristalzuiver. Het Allegro staat als een muziektempel, architectonisch fraai in balans: Stoer weloverwogen orkestspel overgoten met zowel kleurrijk solistisch vuurwerk als met verstilde intimiteit. Het Larghetto is vol van warme gedekte tinten, waarin de viool ijl en zuiver de boventoon zingt. Het hele middendeel zet je in een veelbelovende lichte voorjaarsdag, die organisch overgaat in een warme zomer, in het vrolijke Rondo. Saeijs mengt zich vreugdevol in de dans met licht staccato. In de laatste cadens benadrukt Saeijs nog eens haar lichtvoetige, tegelijkertijd ingehouden hartstocht."

“Frederieke Saeijs creates an impressively beautiful interpretation of the Violin concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven. Her silky sound, her clear refined playing is singing on top of the orchestra without loosing the contact with the accompaniment behind her. Her sound production is crystal-clear. The Allegro has the stability of a temple of music, beautifully balanced in architecture: Bravely balanced playing of the orchestra overwhelmed by colourful fireworks as well as quiet intimacy of the soloist. The Larghetto is full of warm, soft shades, on top of which the violin sings clearly and purely. The whole second movement puts the listener into a promising, light day in spring, which organically develops into a warm summer, the Rondo. Saeijs dances with light staccato and full of joy. In her last cadenza Frederieke Saeijs emphasizes once more her refined and at the same time introverted passion, in which the orchestra supports her wonderfully well.”

Lidy van der spek in Leidsch Dagblad, 2003.