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Journalist: "Alain Duault, you've just got back from Budapest where you attended a rather moving concert the day before yesterday… "
"Yes, a concert that was moving on a human level, and musically magnificent… it marked the return of the great Hungarian cellist Suzanne Ramon, to the land of her birth. She left Hungary in 1956 while still a child prodigy and she had never played there since…so you can imagine the emotion in the sumptuous concert hall of the Franz Liszt Academy, the most beautiful concert hall in Budapest, when Suzanne Ramon, dressed like a queen in bright red – the red of the passion in her heart – when she came on stage holding her famous Guarnerius dating from 1690, an instrument with a prodigious sound, and performed the romantic Schumann's Concerto. she was accompanied by the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the young and brilliant French conductor, Philippe de Chalendar, who worked as James Conlon's assistant at the Opéra de Paris for 7 years.
What was moving was just to see her take up position on the stage and put off the moment when she would start, adjusting her seat, taking the time to unruffled her dress, to find her place…in fact, there was a palpable sensation, not so much of stage fright as of raw emotion on her return to this stage, to this city, to this country, to her soul. Particularly because, in addition to the Hungarian public, there were some other 180 people who had travelled especially from Paris, Tel Aviv but also New York and Martinique just to hear her play as she returned to her spiritual and musical roots. She inspired and commenced the music…"

Journalist: "Alain, could you please tell us a little more about Suzanne Ramon?":
Duault: "Yes! Well, she was born in Budapest, admitted to the music conservatory there at the age of 6 and won the Bela Bartok prize at the age of 10; but her 10 th birthday was in ’56, a period of upheaval, terror, and exile in Israel, where the little Shoshana, as she was called at the time, made her concert hall debut at the age of 13 in Tel Aviv’s Palace of the Arts, with the same Schumann concerto. At the age of 16 she was awarded a scholarship to study in Paris with the great André Navarra, and she was welcome there by another famous Hungarian refugee, the pianist George Cziffra, who, so amazed by her extraordinary talents, took her in and treated her like his own daughter. Then came the First Prize for cello at the Paris Conservatoire, prizes in competitions in Geneva and Sienna, and meetings with Pablo Casals, Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin and Rostropovitch, followed by concerts all over the world, recordings, and all that without ostentation or pomp of any kind, with the humility of someone who offers her music as a gift, and with a spiritual power that radiates out to all those who hear it.

Journalist: "So, I imagine this concert in Budapest was a great success? "
Duault: "It was more than a success; it was a triumph… accompanied by the deeply moving feeling of being present at a rebirth. For example, I mentioned that the tension at the beginning was palpable, Suzanne Ramon, perfectly backed up by Philippe de Chalendar, proceeded to reveal the intimate colours of this nocturnal work, its shine and shade, its internal song, as well as this fiery declamation and then, for an encore – because of course the audience didn't want to let her leave – she played the central phrase again, it was as if she had rediscovered the roots of her soul and a beautiful and generous serenity, a sort of spiritual meditation".

Journalist: "Well, Alain, you were lucky to be there, but is there any way for us to experience this emotion?"
Duault: "Yes, because you have Suzanne Ramon's records. The latest release with Chopin's and Schumann's sonatas, which has just come out, is a pure gem. It has just been released by Arkès, and Suzanne Ramon promised me that she will come in March, on a Sunday to RTL's CLASSIC CLASSIQUE, to give us a preview of the release with Schumann's Concerto, which was recorded by the Hungarian radio. So, I'll keep you informed, but it will no doubt be a great moment. In any case, listen to her records. Suzanne Ramon is truly amazing!"

Alain Duault's Chronicle, broadcast on RTL in 'Laissez-vous tenter' on 30 novembre 2004 - copyright RTL.