François-Frédéric Guy’s epic Beethoven

By Mark Pullinger, 28 March 2015

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“Beethoven at his most bustling and brusque, with playing of epic strength and marble grandeur”

Reviewed at Institut français (French Institute): Ciné Lumière, London on 28 March 2015

Mozart, 12 Variations in C major on "Ah vous dirai-je, maman", K265 (K300e)

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 21 in C major "Waldstein", Op.53

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 32 in C minor, Op.111

François-Frédéric Guy, Piano

A tale of two pianists: the HK Sinfonietta at La Roque

David Karlin, 22nd July

Yip Wing-sie and the HK Sinfonietta show admirable qualities in their Beethoven cycle. François-Frédéric Guy plays a splendid Third Piano Concerto but Anne Queffélec is disconnected from the orchestra in the Fourth.

****1

Powerful Chopin and commanding Beethoven from François-Frédéric Guy

Alexander Hall, 3rd October

With only the latest composition by Tristan Murail acting as a palate-cleanser, this was a recital by a leading French pianist that was full of Romantic power and passion in works by Chopin and Beethoven.

****1

Spectacular Vaughan Williams from the BBC SO and Ryan Wigglesworth

Roy Westbrook, 13th May

Will this centenary year yield a finer Vaughan Williams symphony performance than this account of the Fourth?

****1

Xavier Phillips and François-Frédéric Guy in Beethoven at Wigmore Hall

Zoltán Szabó, 6th July

A (nearly) complete set of Beethoven’s works for cello and piano from the French friends in London.

***11

Beethoven cello sonatas à la française

David Karlin, 18th February

Phillips and Guy produce a French-accented rendering of three cello sonatas, favouring elegance and crystal clarity over overt romantics.

****1

High-powered pianism from Guy and Bavouzet

Frances Wilson, 13th June

French pianists François-Fréderic Guy and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet returned to London’s Wigmore Hall to present a programme of three 20th century orchestral scores transcribed for two pianos.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Lion King: François-Frédéric Guy’s epic Beethoven at the Institut français