Lasting Impressions by Karolina Hopper

A Merry Ballet

Fenimore Chamber Orchestra made a welcome return to Christ Church on Saturday, August 24 for the first concert of the 2024-2025 season. Works by Mozart and Haydn were featured, as was the Airs de Ballet from Les Indes galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau. One could not be faulted for thinking the program may have been somewhat eclectic; but was it? This is something already expected from this very stylish ensemble.

Rameau wrote his ballet-opera Les Indes galantes in 1735, somewhat late in his career. The “opera” reflected the impulse in the then-French theater toward real-world settings. In this case, the indigenous peoples of several different world locales including Peru, Persia and North America. Singing itself almost takes a back seat to the balletic proceedings. Style and grace are the hallmarks of stylish French Baroque playing and here Fenimore Chamber Orchestra rose to the occasion. As mentioned in other reviews, each string section played as if they were one large instrument. This is as beautiful as it is uncanny.

The much-anticipated highlight of the afternoon was the Concerto for Bassoon, KV191 by Mozart. Daniel Hane, principal bassoonist of Fenimore Chamber Orchestra, deftly showcased the unique qualities of the instrument while displaying its virtuosic power and range, not to mention the wit and charm that Mozart provided. The first movement highlights many of the instrument’s virtues, including extraordinary agility and the ability to trill, provide nearly two octave leaps, rapid fire repeated notes, sing lyrically, and sit comfortably on prominent low notes. The second movement resembles a dreamy aria with an elaborately decorated melody over muted strings. The third movement is a standard courtly dance constantly going back and forth between the main theme and virtuosic variations provided by the bassoonist. It must be said that Hane astoundingly provided all of this, and with a disarming ease. There is a suppleness and power to Hane’s bassoon, a quality not often encountered. After such a bravura performance, there was a much-deserved ovation and flowers.

Haydn’s Symphony 83, “The Hen,” followed intermission. The work was commissioned by the then-fashionable Parisian organization Les Concerts de la Loge Olympique and was premiered in 1786 or 1787. Haydn provides the typical storm-and-stress beginning to the work, adhering to the prevailing compositional style. The expected serious mood soon changes to something much more lighthearted. Maestro Żółtowski has shaped the orchestra so that the different stylistic demands of Mozart, not to mention Rameau, are completely offset by the stylistic demands of Haydn. He was amply rewarded. The audience, from the prolonged ovation, also felt amply rewarded.

Karolina Hopper is a freelance contributor.