Reviews

 

“Symphony Silicon Valley delivers smoking Verdi Requiem. The night's hero was conductor Peter Jaffe, establishing stately tempos for the opening Requiem and Kyrie, then ushering in the Biblical jolts of the Dies irae, fired by drums and chorus. . . . It was Jaffe's main-stage debut . . . several weeks ago, the scheduled conductor (Italy's Giampaolo Bisanti) had to cancel. In stepped Jaffe, who already was preparing to conduct the Requiem for an upcoming performance with the Stockton Symphony, of which he is music director. The piece is 75 minutes long, and he knows it cold.”                                                                      —San Jose Mercury News 

 

“But the top award goes to director Jaffe. He unerringly caught the special subtlety of each section and wove it with the others into a unified whole. In the final section [of Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition] . . . he built the orchestral dynamics slowly to a climax that was absolutely Wagnerian in its anticipation and ultimate realization.”                                                                                      —Stockton Record

 

“Conductor looms large over NMSO. Conductor Peter Jaffe . . . fused a powerful relationship with the orchestra. . . . The urgency of this connection pulled from the orchestra a new level of precision and expressiveness. . . . Jaffe not only had the score [to Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony] in his memory, but he also had it in his bones.”                                                                                             —Albuquerque Journal

 

“Symphony continues to top itself with Mahler’s Fifth. Jaffe conducted this ebb and flow in an overreaching arc that built inexorably to the exultant ending. The entire orchestra responded superbly. When the medals are handed out, first in line should be Jaffe for his valor in essaying this work and his skill in interpreting it.”

—Stockton Record

 

“Jaffe always has a wonderful rapport with his audience, who hung on his every word and gesture.”                                                —Aspen Times Daily

 

“Guest conductor shines in Symphony opener.  The dynamic young conductor . . . ended the concert with high drama . . . Sometimes demanding, sometimes inspiring, [Jaffe] elicited a stirring finale that brought hundreds of delighted concertgoers to their feet.”                                                       —Stockton Record

 

“FSO successfully explores sound. Eliciting a wildly enthusiastic response from Friday’s Ardrey Auditorium audience . . . Jaffe can be described as one whose conducting style exemplifies the “broad statement.” Tall in stature and with a physical presence given to the “grand gesture,” Jaffe literally bounded on stage to lead the orchestra with a competence that effectively united and melded the unusually large instrumental forces at his command.”               —Arizona Daily Sun

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