It is not by chance that luminous textures and sensual orchestral colours are considered essential features of French music. Its history features great names renowned for their art of instrumentation and sensitive use of timbres, who include the composers of the cello concertos on this recording: Camille Saint-Saëns, whose instrumentation technique always combines colour with transparency, Édouard Lalo, who was highly esteemed by Claude Debussy for the wealth of colour in his works, and Arthur Honegger, who painted striking soundscapes not only in his Cello Concerto but in his works without a large orchestra as well.

Often it is the fine shadings and delicate transitions that characterise the tone colours of French music and are responsible for its delightful charm.