Relative Interpretations

Sibling duos, although rare, are not unheard of in the classical music world. Two years back, the New West Symphony hosted the renowned pianist sisters Katia and Marielle Labeque.

And the trend continues next week, when violinists Lara and Scott St. John show up to perform Bach’s “Concerto for Two Violins” on New West’s program.

But unlike the Labeques, the St. Johns have not been nurturing a dual career for themselves, and the New West appearance accounts for only their third duo performance in the past 15 years, according to Lara. So far, their period of most intensive duet playing was in the pre-pubescent stage, as youngsters growing up in Ontario, Canada.

Lara began playing violin at age 2 because of her brother, then the ripe age of 3. As Lara explained last week from her home in New York City, “The reason I started was that he came home with a little violin and I screamed and yelled until I got one, too. That’s why I started ridiculously young. Of course, we played duos when we were little. It was the cute and accepted thing to do. However, at about the age of 12, we stopped doing that completely and went on our own ways.”

For Lara, early adolescence coincided with her entrance into the respected Curtis Institute of Music. After graduating at 17, she traveled to Russia and then to England.

“At that point, I figured, ‘Either I’m going to live in Montana and be a forest ranger, or I’m going to New York City.’ That’s what I ended up doing. You live overseas for a while, and living there lets you know where you belong. And somehow, I knew that I really belonged on this side of the pond.”

The work of Bach is a familiar musical focal point for her, in that her acclaimed debut CD from 1996, for the Well-Tempered Productions label, consisted of Bach solo violin works, the Partita No. 2 in D Minor and the Sonata No. 3 in C.

“It was very exciting for me,” she said of recording these pieces at age 24, “because these have been pieces that I’ve loved and have done since I was a kid. They’re the kind of things that you can come back to and improve. There’s always something new.”

Is it a particular challenge to perform solo violin music, as opposed to chamber music or orchestral settings? “In a way, it is,” she said, “and in another way, it’s almost easier. You are so alone that you don’t have anything else to worry about. You don’t have to lead your pianist or watch the conductor. Of course, there’s also the problem that, if you make a mistake, there’s only you to blame. Everything falls upon one. I actually prefer it.

“I so wish there was more music for solo violin, but we’ve only got the six great ones, which is a lot. It’s better than repertoire for oboe,” she said, laughing. “These two pieces, with the Chaconne and the Fugue being so long, there’s a sort of trance-like state that is achieved--at least by me. By the end of it, I have absolutely no idea how it went. It’s very easy to get swept up and borne on a wind, so to speak.”

The CD also generated some extra-musical attention for its cover, depicting the violinist in a dimly lighted room, apparently wearing only her violin, with sunlight through Venetian blinds casting a striped pattern on her skin. The image was shot at the end of a photo session and, Lara said, “When I saw that picture, I thought that it really expressed the fact that there is nothing else--only a performer and a violin and only natural light. No jewelry, no visible clothing, shall we say. Of course, many people took it wrong.

“I must say that in California, nobody blinked an eye. But you should have seen the reaction in Canada. It was interesting to see where the negative reaction was centered. I’m not talking about French Canada, but Anglo-Canada. Anglo-Canada tends to be between the States and England. They’re a bit more conservative.”

The hubbub also pointed out to her the sharp distinctions between the world of classical music marketing and the pop world, where such an image probably wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. St. John believes the classical world should heed the domain of pop-world marketing as it tries to spread its music to a larger, and younger, audience.

“The pop world is all about attracting attention,” she said, adding that some of the music is bad “but it sells because it’s got a great cover. Now, if we put out some great classical music--and I don’t think anybody can say that these works of Bach aren’t great--and then attract attention because of that, if that’s not a boon to classical music, I don’t know what is. You hear people complaining that the classical world is dying, but maybe that’s because we only cater to the audience that we have already.

“However, having said all that, none of this was exactly the intention behind the photo. I just knew that I didn’t want the typical ball-gown picture or a babbling brook or a castle in Germany. I wanted it to be different.”

Her new CD is titled “Gypsy,” and it features repertoire from classical literature as well as new works written for the violinist, all with gypsy-inflected themes.

“I’ve always felt a real closeness with that music and with the people,” Lara said. “I could have done some more Bach or maybe some Mozart, but I thought it would be good to do something quite opposite that I also feel quite close to.”

An increasing international profile is unfolding for the Canadian, as she has appeared with orchestras in Hungary, Russia, Cleveland, Toronto, Philadelphia, and now with the New West. And whatever controversy she has stirred in her native land, she is also respected there. One of her recent awards was purely instrumental: The Canadian Council granted her one of the rare vintage Stradivarius violins offered to the council by an anonymous donor.

The Lyall Stradivarius is “one of the better ones,” she said. “It’s 1702, from the golden period. It’s a terrific fiddle.”

She’s getting plenty of opportunities to play it. The day after this interview, she was off to Vienna to perform the Bach Chaconne for the opening of a new magazine and then back to La Jolla before arriving in Ventura County, followed by a performance at Pepperdine University with her brother.

“When it rains, it pours,” she said. “Sometimes, you have way too much to do and then there’s a month with nothing. That happens to me all the time. It’s great and exciting, and there are lots of people to meet.”

Brother Scott has made his own impressive path in his career, often on Canadian turf. He toured northeastern Canada from 1994 to 1997 with his contemporary music group, Millennium. He has worked with the Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver symphonies, in addition to playing viola with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and working with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He plays violin, viola and also plugs in at times with the MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) violin.

DETAILS: New West Symphony, Feb. 5 at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way in Oxnard, and Feb. 6, at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd. For tickets and information, call 497-5880.