There’s A New Movement In Town

Midway into the third movement of Robert Schumann’s Märchenerzählungen, David Perry was well on his way to constructing an alternate universe — a place where Schumann’s fairy tales could spring to life at the surprising change of a note, a new thought emerging from the belly of a clarinet or flurry of piano keys.

Perry swung forward onto the balls of his feet, furrowing his eyebrows as Isabella Mensz let out a long string of suggestions through her viola. Members of the audience leaned forward ever so slightly, some closing their eyes as they tried to create what Mensz had described just minutes before as ​“adult kind of fairy tales,” experimental movements the audience could almost see as they were unspooled from the front of the room (click here for audio).

Last Saturday evening, Schumann, Mozart and Max Bruch got new leases on life as the Second Movement Ensemble, joined by Music Haven’s celebrated Phat Orangez Quintet, performed at Christ Presbyterian Church on Whitney Avenue. The group’s East Rock concert marked the second performance in the Second Movement Series, an innovative music program started by Perry this year that places burgeoning musicians alongside experienced players as a method of arts education in real time. 

The allure of the series is twofold. When groups like the Phat Orangez or Morse Academy students perform, audience members get to watch community building in action. As the quintet attacked Mark Marion’s Tango para Cuerdas, a new addition to their repertoire, students exchanged wide grins, joyfully plunking out the steady dum da dum dum undertone integral to a tango.

Then there is the ensemble itself. Created in tandem with the series and inspired by troupes like New York-based Decoda and the Haven String Quartet, the fledgling group (David Perry, clarinet; Isabella Mensz, viola; Yevgeny Yontov, piano) is one part experiment, one part education, and one part outstanding musicianship.

The result is music that feels both cutting-edge and remarkably accessible for its age. Take Mozart’s Trio in Eb. Major, K. 498: ​“Kegelstatt.” As Perry played, loosing several songbirds from his clarinet, he leaned into the music, exchanging glances with Mensz and Yontov as the movements changed from Andante to Menuetto, Menuetto to Allegretto (click here for audio).

His addition of context — the Mozart piece is an old friend, endeared to him from a young age; the Schumann, a new challenge — rounded out the evening. Two standing ovations from the church pews spoke for themselves.

“To draw a good crowd, which we did, is great … but to create an environment where people are so open and receptive, listening as intently as this audience was — that doesn’t just happen every day,” said Perry after the show. ​“I hope to see the ensemble function both as an integral part of the series, but also outside it, as an integral part of the community.”

He added that he sees the ensemble as coming at a critical, shifting time for both classical music and education.

“There are more and more ensembles popping up that are asking the question: We put so much work into becoming musicians, so how can we use that to serve our community? What possibilities are present? Classical music has been struggling to secure a sustainable future in the United States, and my hope is that this will be one way to do that.”

The next Second Movement Series event, featuring the chamber group Cantata Profana, will be held January 15, 2015 at the English Building Market on Chapel Street. To stay current with the series, visit their upcoming concerts page.