Someone told us a story of a famous pianist who believed in bringing culture to the people, and went to a factory in Italy to give a lecture in front of a piano. He started to talk about Schoenberg, and after a few minutes, a voice rose from the audience: "Shut up, and play!" Ok, he said, and sat down at the piano, playing the Schoenberg piece. The voice rose again: "Rather, talk!"

András Schiff, the Hungarian-born British Grammy winning piano virtuoso was telling the anecdote during a lecture series in London where he was talking --and playing-- about Beethoven's piano sonatas. Had we been sitting at the lecture, rather than streaming it on the internet, we'd have the opposite conundrum: talk! play! We could no choose, but we'd enjoy either. The guy has a great, slightly dry sense of humor, he knows Beethoven in and out, both from a scholarly or a musical point of view, and he can flat out play.

The Beethoven piano sonatas: you've heard them many times. The Moonlight sonata is one of these assignments that piano pupils take on too early and butcher too eagerly. Schiff, he is no butcher, and he is going to show us how it's done. He's playing an eight concert cycle of the 32 sonatas, in chronological order, a musical marathon of sort. The first two concerts are this month, Sunday Oct. 7th and 14th, co-presented by SF Performances and the SF Symphony (there are two more concerts in April, and the rest next season). That's a pretty exciting event, so we jumped on the opportunity to email some questions.

We were listening to your lectures at Wigmore Hall, we only had time to go through Op2, 7, 10 and 13 so far. These are great lectures, and will improve our playing of the sonatas. At least we hope so. Are you going to have a similar discussion format in SF?

András I am glad You enjoyed the Wigmore lectures, thank you very much indeed. There won't be anything like that in San Francisco, at least not now. I feel that the crisis in classical music - if there is such a thing - is a matter of quality and understanding. There is no shortage in the number of concerts that are being presented to the public, nor is there a lack of audience attendance. The problem is that audiences are less and less knowledgeable. This is a question of education, schools do very little about this, families are busy with other things, there is less home music-making. In such a cultural climate we have to make an effort to explain to the public how to listen to great music. Of course, many of them already know this, but to the majority this is necessary and welcome. After the Wigmore Hall lectures, there were no questions from the audience. But usually, I'm happy to answer them.

And you're playing the whole sonata cycle, right? Because you couldn't choose your favorite?

András The Beethoven sonatas beg to be played as a cycle. 32 masterpieces, not one weak link among them, they form a logical sequence, a line of evolution. Beethoven was a great pianist himself and he wrote many of these pieces for his own use. They show his development as a composer over a period of almost thirty years, like no other genre does.

The last performer we heard in the entire Beethoven sonatas was Alfred Brendel in Paris in the 90s. You mention him in your first Op 2 lecture. Is your take similar to his?

András I have a great respect for Mr. Brendel, a marvelous artist, an important interpreter of Beethoven. However, I doubt it that my approach would be similar to his. We all try to understand what the composer wanted through the score. Still, each and every performance is entirely different, and thank God for that. How boring it would be if it were otherwise?

You mostly went to the source: to the original manuscripts, to the first editions, to the testimonies of Beethoven contemporaries. Did you have to go to research far and wide, or was it all done in Vienna? How much of it is scholarly work, as opposed to performing music?

András Many manuscripts are in Vienna, but not all. Most are at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Germany, where he was born. And Berlin is also a very important city. The sonata Op. 109 is at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.To me, it is extremely important to go back to the sources and learn as much about the background as possible. But we must find the right balance between knowledge and instinct. Instinct and inspiration must dominate but knowledge doesn't hurt either.

The other event during the weekend you come to SF is the premiere of Philip Glass' opera Appomattox at the SF Opera. We’re so there! Is his work your cup of camomille?

András I must confess that my interest in minimal music is MINIMAL. Mr. Glass's music seems to appeal to a lot of people, but I don't have an antenna for it. It must be my fault, sorry.

Obviously, Beethoven is never out of date, but do you explore the contemporary music repertoire? Would you compose? Would you lecture on Philip Glass the way you did on Beethoven? That would sure help us.

András I would be glad to compose, but unfortunately, something essential is missing from me, namely talent. I do play contemporary music but not as much as I should or would like to, but I have to be realistic. No one can do everything well. If I played all of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and others - most of it from memory - then I can't do everything else. Also, the modern repertory requires such a radically different pianistic approach; it's virtually impossible to require the same pianist to feel at home in both worlds.

I couldn't lecture on Philip Glass; I simply don't understand it.

You are also releasing the Beethoven sonata cycle as a CD sets? How many did you record already?

András Five volumes of my recordings have been released but the others have also been recorded, in concerts. Live from the Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland.

Seeing as how you will be in SF for the duration of the cycle, have you figured out your favorite hangouts in the city yet?

András San Francisco has always been my very favorite American city. It's very beautiful. I love the topography, the hills, the valleys, and the fact that one can walk here - something one can't do in most American cities. I don't even know how to drive, so the freedom to walk is critical for me.

Thank you so much! Performance and ticket info here and here.