When Alice Tully commissioned Olivier Messiaen to write a piece for her new hall, he composed “From the Canyons to the Stars” for 44 players because that’s how many could fit on that stage. If Olga Bloom, the founder, chief cook, and bottle washer of Bargemusic, did the same, she would have to settle for a string quartet, as this uniquely intimate venue is built to the dimensions of Lilliput. But Ms. Bloom is never willing to accept the status quo, and her latest project is to fill the small room with musicians. On Saturday evening the 17-member string orchestra The Knights created a joyful noise indeed.

Commencing with the Divertimento in D Major, K. 136 of Mozart, this exuberant group performed very crisply. Their accents were a bit exaggerated, their tempos a little beyond the pale of period practice, but the net result was highly exciting and infectiously energetic. Only the cellos were able to sit, and the bulk of the performers had to play while being slightly buffeted by the motion of the water underneath us all. The eight violins were dispersed into the space normally reserved for the audience, and so those of us in the front section were surrounded by the music in a pleasant and involving manner.

This feeling continued during a stunning performance of Bela Bartok’s “Divertimento for String Orchestra.” Here the fast tempos of the outer movements created a thrilling sense of motion, although the players succumbed to some sloppiness by the final Allegro assai. Most impressive was the Molto adagio, in which the entire first and second violin sections changed sides and parts and produced delicate and rhythmically adroit readings of some of Bartok’s trickiest passages. This was intense music making that came very close to the anguished heart of this classic adaptation of folk music, which includes some of the daring idioms of American jazz.

Also performed on Saturday night were “Ney-Nava,” a disappointingly derivative modern Persian work by Hossein Alizadeh, and two of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, including the swirling Bugs Bunny version of the first one. All told, it was truly an exhilarating experience made all the more memorable by being placed right inside the music.