Downtown Troy played host to chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Saturday night. For the classically-minded audience, Les Violons du Roy stylistically entertained with its Baroque and Classical influences.
With its specialty in 17th- and 18th-century music, the orchestra began the evening softly with Georg Philipp Telemann’s “Ouverture des Nations anciens et modernes” in G Major, a suite composed of nine pieces in a French style. While the first movement opened up as a slow introduction, the orchestra quickened in the latter movements, delivering a nice prelude to the succeeding pieces. A unique aspect of the “Ouverture” was that, while the rest of the pieces paid homage to kings and queens of old, the first piece by Telemann envisioned a marketplace full of middle-class merchants going about their day-to-day activities. The audience was definitely able to appreciate a move from the plebeian environment and into English court, which was illustrated in the next piece.
George Frideric Handel’s “Water Music” in G Major featured an oboe and bassoon and simulated English country dances as well as elegant dances from Versailles, the majestic court of the French royalty. Each of the movements had its high and low points, though most of the consistency was found in the fact that all of the piece’s components gave the atmosphere of aristocrats stylishly sailing from one palace to another in full regalia. The woodwind instruments certainly helped with the feel of the piece.
A personal favorite in the first half of the concert was Les Violons du Roy’s performance of Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Horn Concerto No. 2” in D Major, which showcased fantastic French horn work by Louise-Philippe Marsolais. The French horn certainly added a more melodious and regal tone to the movements. And while Haydn’s piece was quite favorable, the next half of the concert was even more impressive.
Henry Purcell’s “Chaconne” from the opera King Arthur (sometimes called The British Worthy) began the second half of the concert. This piece gave the audience the feeling of joining in a dance at the English court. “Chaconne” definitely opened up to the next two pieces, which take the audience from the British Isles to an end near the Mediterranean.
The orchestra played another Handel piece, a suite from the opera Alcina, which revolves around a sorceress of the same name. It is a bit of a shame that we were only given a small sampling of the opera’s music—definitely not enough to satiate my curiosity in the story of the sorceress.
Les Violons du Roy ended the evening with an Italian piece from Francesco Geminiani titled “Concerto Grosso in D Minor” from the opera La Follia. To this familiar tune, the orchestra uplifted the audience’s spirits with its superior string-work. Violinist Nicole Trotier certainly stole the show after performing her solo near the end of the last movement. Overall, though, the orchestra itself impressed enough to garner a standing ovation after one of its last pieces. The performance was a musical gem.
Hailing from Quebec, Les Violons du Roy is a group of 15 musicians, with international concert appearances, particularly in France, Spain, Belgium, Morocco, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Best known for its Baroque and Classical repertoire, the orchestra derived its name from the musical group that has played in the court of French kings. With at least 18 albums to its name (its recent release is Bartok), Les Violons du Roy shows no signs of losing momentum.
