When the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble kicks
off its season on the Cantor Auditorium stage in the Brooklyn
Museum of Art on Dec. 15, what else would be on the program but
"A Holiday Potpourri" of baroque music by the likes
of Handel, Corelli, Telemann, Pachelbel and Bach?
"It’s all great music," says violinist Krista Bennion
Feeney, the ensemble’s director of chamber music, who set the
program. "It’s quite a mix. Some of it is very familiar,
like the Pachelbel ’Canon,’ which everybody knows, and the Bach
’Concerto for Two Violins [in D minor].’
"But many people don’t know the Telemann Concertos [for
Oboe in D minor and for Flute, Oboe d’Amore and Viola d’Amore
in E major], which are both gorgeous pieces," says Feeney.
"And you really don’t get to hear the Handel Concerto Grosso
[in G Major] either – it’s very festive, a very ’up’ piece –
but the Corelli ’Christmas Concerto,’ of course, is well-known.
We try to get a balance in the keys – some in major, some in
minor – so it’s a festive and uplifting program."
The St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble was founded in 1974, and was
followed five years later by the formation of the renowned Orchestra
of St. Luke’s, which plays an annual three-concert Carnegie Hall
series along with many other programs and recordings. What distinguishes
the ensemble is its make-up: 21 virtuoso musicians who are in
demand all over the world for their musical prowess. Feeney acknowledges
that such an abundance of talent is a good problem to have.
"We like to feature our players in the concertos that we
program," she explains. "It’s quite special to hear
a soloist play in the style of the group. Usually, a soloist
who plays with an orchestra comes from a different world, so
to speak. Here, we have a style we have in common, and when our
soloists play within the group, it makes the performance very
special and harmonious. Simply, we have such fantastic virtuosi
in the group, we like to show them off."
Following its holiday concert – which, like all of its concerts,
is repeated at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan the following Wednesday
– the ensemble returns to the Brooklyn Museum for "Mendelssohn:
The Boy Genius" on Feb. 23 and "A Schubert Sandwich"
on April 6. Several of the Orchestra’s Carnegie programs this
season are taken up by Mendelssohn, so Feeney believes the February
concert should reflect that.
"Whenever possible, we like to make a mini-festival,"
Feeney says, "and since we’re doing an all-Mendelssohn orchestral
concert that week [Feb. 27], we’ll do an all-Mendelssohn chamber
concert also. The two string symphonies that we’re playing were
written when he was 12 years old. Then we’ll play the octet in
the second half, which shows how he matured musically from age
12 to 16."
Most experts agree that Mendelssohn peaked at an early age, as
evidenced by the masterpieces he poured forth as a teenager.
"I picked those two string symphonies because the slow movements,
especially, are very beautiful – the fourth’s slow movement almost
sounds like Mahler, it’s so magical. And the fifth is a kind
of song without words, a beautiful song in the first violins,"
says Feeney.
"I think we’re really well-suited to play these pieces because
Mendelssohn modeled his symphonies on the works of masters like
Bach, Mozart and Beethoven," she says. "They’re an
interesting mixture of baroque and classical style with that
Mendelssohnian spirit."
For the April 6 concert, "A Schubert Sandwich" should
be taken literally – a newly discovered Haydn Divertimento will
be preceded by a charming Schubert String Trio and followed,
after intermission, by Schubert’s famously delightful "Trout"
Quintet, which includes the orchestra’s new artistic director,
Donald Runnicles, on piano.
Feeney is ecstatic about the Haydn Divertimento, a U.S. premiere.
"What a treat it will be to play a new Haydn quartet,"
she says. "The ’Divertimento’ is for violin, viola, cello
and bass, with a completely independent bass part, freeing up
the cello to be more melodic. It’s really a beautiful piece."
A former Brooklyn resident who lived in Cobble Hill in the late
1980s, Feeney still has warm feelings for the borough. "I
always love going back to Brooklyn to play," she says. "It’s
like going back home for me."
And the ensemble follows suit.
"We’ve played the museum for eight years now," she
says. "It’s a very nice hall – we like it very much. I prefer
the museum for our group [to the smaller Weill Recital Hall].
Weill is a fantastic hall, but for a group of our size, it sometimes
sounds overpowering. I think people are better off hearing us
in Brooklyn."
Who’s going to argue with that?
The St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble performs
"A Holiday Potpourri" Sunday, Dec. 15 at 2 pm in the
Cantor Auditorium of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, 200 Eastern
Parkway. Tickets are $25 and $18 for students, seniors and museum
members. A series pass – good for all three Museum concerts –
is $50. For more information, call (212) 594-6100 or visit www.orchestraofstlukes.org.
