““The Symphony milked almost all the slow and medium-tempo music gratifyingly and the undisputed highlight of the entire evening came when Taddei boldly shaped the end of the Lento–Largo movement into a hollowing deconstruction of the material presented earlier. This intention manifests on some level in the notes that Shostakovich put on the page, of course, but I’d never heard it the way I’m now convinced it should be heard until Sunday. Surely that alone constitutes reason enough to return to the Empress Theatre.”
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““After an extended COVID wait the Vallejo Symphony returned to the city’s Empress Auditorium April 23 and 24 with a program that easily proved the long layoff didn’t lessen the VSO’s legendary quality...

One of the highlights of the afternoon was the seldom-heard Rachmaninoff F-Sharp Major Concerto, the early work that was a lifetime favorite of the composer, and featured San Francisco-based pianist Jeffrey LaDeur in a powerhouse performance that at the end generated a standing ovation.

As good as the Concerto performance was, Beethoven’s F Major Symphony, Op. 68, produced the afternoon’s finest playing. Mr. Taddei, without score, drew from his Orchestra a sweeping reading that was at times explicitly rich and at times artfully suggestive. Control of dynamics and balancing phases in instrumental sections found Mr. Taddei in fine form, making the most of this ingratiating music that in his hands was deftly crafted and never sounded repetitive. Melanie Keller’s perky flute solos characterized the Andante Molto Mosso, and the transition to the storm movement was appropriately seamless.””