Jiayan Sun and Edward Arron stepped onto the stage to thunderous applause, and moments later, with the first triumphant slamming of piano keys of “Grand Duo sur des thèmes de Robert le Diable,” the concert began. This was the sixth and final performance of Sun’s series “The Timeless Genius of Chopin.” Each concert in the series is dedicated to a different facet of Chopin’s varied works, this one being his complete chamber music. Associate Professor of Music and concert pianist Sun was joined by two guest performers, cellist Arron, Assistant Professor of Music at UMass Amherst, and violinist Joel Pitchon, Chair of the Smith Music Department.
These guest performers seem to have drawn in the crowds. “I’m especially excited to hear the visiting professor from UMass,” Emma Civello ’24 said before the concert. “He’s a very exciting player to watch,” she said later. Arron’s center-stage performance did steal the show. During the livelier parts of the pieces, he stamped his feet in time with the sawing of his bow, assuming all of the frantic energy of the music itself. But when the cello took on a mournful tone, Arron adjusted his performance to match the somber mood, often playing with his eyes closed and his chin tucked, nose brushing against the cello’s neck with an intimacy that almost made the audience seem like an intrusion.
But Arron’s riveting performance didn’t hamper the overall chemistry of the group. In “Trio pour Piano, Violon et Violoncelle,” the only piece that included Pitchon on violin, the trio performed with noticeable unity. Pitchon, Arron and Sun shared frequent glances and the occasional smile, as much in conversation as their instruments. “It was really cohesive,” Civello said. “They even breathed together.” Civello was there with her friend Alicia Chen ’24. Both Smithies said they enjoyed classical music and, when asked if it had a place at Smith, replied, “Of course!” But do most Smithies agree?
“You are the second student tonight,” Alison Reel ’24, told me after she checked my Smith ID and handed me the program. “We usually get about one or two at each of the Chopin concerts.” That statistic didn’t seem too far-fetched when scanning the heads of the seated audience, most of whom were gray-haired, balding or both. This raises the question: what is a Chopin concert doing on a progressive, alternative campus that undoubtedly prefers Mitski to Mozart? With the passing of the baby boomer generation, will classical music finally lose its footing here at Smith? This lack of student attendance seems to say yes, but among the sea of silver heads, the few Smithies in attendance say otherwise.
“I think a lot of people appreciate classical music but don’t know a whole lot about it,” said Lily Weber ’24. This perspective seemed to be a common one among attending Smithies. “I feel like classical music could be appreciated a bit more at Smith, but there are a lot of people I’ve met here who do enjoy it,” said Chen. So perhaps the concert’s meager attendance is more indicative of busy schedules and inopportune timing than lack of interest.
Even so, the doleful notes of “Sonate pour Piano et Violoncelle,” the last piece played by the performers, seemed to be a forlorn ode to the end of the series. During the Largo movement, when the pace slowed and Arron drew his bow with almost painful tension, there were many bowed heads in the audience and more than one eye dabbed. But with the return of the rapid notes of the piano and cello in the finale, the concert ended with the same triumphant flourish with which it began — Chopin’s final word at Smith, for now.
