‘Proust, Le Concert Retrouvé’ named as one of Gramophone’s Recordings of the Year 2021
In July 1907, the celebrated French author Marcel Proust invited close friends and special guests to a dinner and concert at Paris’ Ritz hotel. The concert was in honour of the composer Gabriel Fauré—and its featured music would go on to be a major inspiration for one of the most famous literary achievements of all time: Proust’s seven-volume À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). Proust’s masterpiece introduces us to the fictional composer Vinteuil, whose style owes much to the musical influences in that legendary concert, including Fauré’s great Violin Sonata and pieces by Chopin, Wagner, Schumann, and Couperin.
In this exquisitely performed album, Proust, Le Concert Retrouvé (translated as Proust, the Rediscovered Concert), violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte, and pianist Tanguy de Williencourt take us back in time to that magical soirée at the Ritz, recreating the original concert as closely as possible. This album doesn’t only house what Proust heard that night, it also includes works by Proust’s lover, lifelong friend, and celebrated composer Reynaldo Hahn, who was unable to be at the concert. Langlois de Swarte and Williencourt, therefore, bookend their recital with two of his works. Proust allegedly wrote to Hahn the day after the concert, said that there was no music of his in the concert ‘because the musicians didn’t know your pieces,’ Proust, Le Concert Retrouvé include the beautiful, neo-Baroque À Chloris and L’Heure exquise to show the affection Proust and Hahn had for each other. The album is named one of the Gramophone’s Recordings of the Year 2021.
Reviews
Scherzo
En este admirable CD se ofrece la audición privada que organizó Proust en el Ritz de 1907…Los intérpretes de apellidos proustianos, son, también, espléndidos y están sumamente identificados con este mundo desaparecido. El disco es una muy buena invitación para revisitar a Proust, esta vez con el oído.
June 2021
France Musique
Recréant pour nous cette soirée où les époques se mêlent et abolissent le temps, Théotime Langlois de Swarte et Tanguy de Williencourt font revivre l’intimité des salons parisiens du début du XXe siècle et nous plongent dans cet univers musical si fécond qui imprègne toute la Recherche du temps perdu.
March 2021
The New Yorker
Langlois de Swarte and Williencourt deliver an idiomatic performance, with a warmly singing violin line poised above cleanly articulated piano textures. The duo are especially mesmerizing in Fauré’s Andante, with its slinky, abbreviated theme and its steadily pulsing iambic rhythm. Williencourt makes a formidable impression in his solo selections. A fairly astounding achievement.
March 2021