"There are writers of peace. There are war writers. There are writers of ruins. I am a writer of ruins. I spent my childhood among the ruins of a port completely destroyed by Allied air power. Seven years passed before the city looked at the sea again. Anyone who begins to live in ruins is doomed to grief even if they have not had the experience of destruction. He feels it without understanding it. He receives the painful impression without perceiving its specific cause. He has only seen docks fly. He has never met whole houses. Prepared with pianist Aline Piboule, a recital is built around Schumann's Fantasia opus 17, which he himself titled Ruines. This extraordinary declaration of love addressed to Clara is surrounded by other works from Bach to Adès, from the Baroque to the present day.”

Pascal Quignard