"It was during my lockdown, while reading the book Musique Ancienne by Wanda Landowska, pianist and one of the first harpsichordists of the early 20th century, that the idea came to me to delve into the repertoire of French melodies of that period in connection with early music.

Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc Saint Saëns and other famous composers held their predecessors in high esteem: Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin, Saint Saëns's 'revisiting' of Rameau's work and Vincent d'Indy's creation of the Schola Cantorum are just a few examples. To say that a wind of curiosity was blowing towards the past would be an understatement!

At the Bibliothèque Nationale and elsewhere, I also met a number of lesser-known musicians whose music caught my attention. Their interest in past centuries was not only real but absolutely interesting: Raoul Laparra, Eugène Sauzay, Louis Pitte and Arthur Metzner were unknown to me, I must admit, wrongly so. Well-known or forgotten, the idea was born to offer a tribute to these composers who were the first to bring about the fantastic renaissance in early music that we enjoy today.

I also wanted to extend this tribute by giving a voice to my contemporaries on the subject, so three creators whom I admire and whom I have met in my musical life have lent themselves to the game: Juliette, the lady of French song, Edouard Ferlet, the talented jazz pianist, Léonor de Recondo, the baroque violinist but now above all a talented writer, and Xavier Béraud, a juggler of words, will give their contemporary views on this renaissance.

Maude Gratton, a highly talented pianist and winner of the Brugges Prize, with whom I've been collaborating for a long time, is the pianist for this adventure."