François-Frédéric Guy, Institut Français

François-Frédéric Guy is one of the world’s foremost interpreters of Beethoven’s piano music. Although his rugged demeanor suggests a musician of wild abandon, Guy has built his reputation on his extraordinary ability to let the music speak for itself, unveiling the full richness of the compositions. This March, he will visit the Institut Français to perform two of Beethoven’s greatest sonatas.
But before the storm, some blue skies. Mozart’s Twelve Variations on ‘Ah! vous-dirai je, maman’ (1781-2) takes a very familiar children’s melody – ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star,’ ‘Baa, baa, black sheep’ and spins it out into an astonishingly diverse and consistently delightful sequence.
After this light opening, Guy will plunge deep into Beethoven. First, there’s Sonata No. 21 (1804), the Waldstein. Technically demanding – many players have to use a simplified version – and wildly inventive, it took its form to an unprecedented scale. Sonata No. 32 (1821-2), the final work in the composer’s cycle, shatters that form entirely, with a mere two movements. The first is amongst his most thrillingly tempestuous, but it’s the more muted second that is generally considered one of the most transcendent passages in the entire repertoire.