Opera and ballet were the dominant musical genres in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century France, and French orchestral music was much more poetic and narrative than the contrasting German symphonic tradition. Master-orchestrators such as Debussy and Ravel drew extraordinary colours and textures from the symphony orchestra, making their works perennial favourites with audiences around the world. Sinfonia of London perform this repertoire with absolute precision and finesse. The album is recorded in surround sound, and is available in Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio and as a hybrid SACD.

Since John Wilson relaunched Sinfonia of London in 2018, his hand-picked orchestra has attracted the highest critical acclaim from both national and international press, performed at the BBC Proms every year since 2021 (their live debut), and made their international debut at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam in 2025. Regularly touring in the UK, they have also released twenty-five albums (this is the twenty-sixth) covering a wide and varied range of repertoire, from Rachmaninov to Rodgers & Hammerstein.

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1

L'Apprenti sorcier
2

Clair de lune
3

Joyeuse Marche
4

Une Barque sur l'ocean, M 43, No. 3
5

Danse macabre, Op. 40
6

Suite from Carmen. Les Toreadors (theme from Prelude to Act I and Procession of the Toreadors, Act IV)
7

Suite from Carmen. Prelude (motive from Prelude to Act I)
8

Suite from Carmen. Aragonaise (Entr'acte before Act IV)
9

Suite from Carmen. Les Dragons d'Alcala (Entr'acte before Act II)
10

Suite from Carmen. Habanera (Carmen's aria, Act I)
11

Suite from Carmen. La Garde Montante (Children's chorus, Act I)
12

Suite from Carmen. Intermezzo (Entr'acte before Act III)
13

Suite from Carmen. Marche des Contrebandiers (Opening chorus, Act III)
14

Suite from Carmen. Seguedille (Carmen's aria, Act I)
15

Suite from Carmen. Chanson du Toreador (Escamillo's introduction and aria, Act II)
16

Suite from Carmen. Nocturne (Micaela's aria, Act III)
17

Suite from Carmen. Danse boheme (Gypsy Dance, Act II)

Europadisc Review

Those many listeners who have followed award-winning conductor John Wilson and his hand-picked Sinfonia of London in their many Chandos discs of French music will be thrilled with their latest release. Entitled ‘French Orchestral Favourites’ and set down at various sessions in St Augustine’s, Kilburn between November 2023 and January 2025, it contains some of the most celebrated Gallic pieces in the repertoire, kicking off with Paul Dukas’s perennially popular L’Apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), whose wide appeal owes much to its memorable appearance in Walt Disney’s 1940 animated film Fantasia. Richard Langham Smith’s substantial booklet notes, however, rightly stress the works origins in Goethe’s poem Der Zauberlehrling, and although Dukas’s work fits well into the late-19th-century French taste for symphonic poems, the composer’s unfashionable admiration for German culture betrays itself in the overarching exposition and recapitulation which frame the narrative. This music is tailor-made for the Sinfonia of London’s virtuoso musicians, not least (of course) the hugely characterful solo bassoons, who growl their way through the score. But listen, also, to the wonderful way in which the ‘once upon a time’ shimmers into life, the fine details exquisitely balanced and shaped by Wilson. The pacing, too, is pretty much perfect, with a real sense of unfolding drama, a terrific build-up to the moment when the sorcerer himself appears to set things right again (the hapless apprentice’s embarrassment is tangible), and that delicious final flourish.

From this engaging start, the programme slips into reflective mood with Wilson’s own orchestration of Debussy’s piano piece ‘Clair de Lune’ from the Suite bergamasque. Here the worlds of early musical Impressionism and Hollywood soundtrack seem to merge, the strings (including some lovely solo work) taking on a glossy sheen which will delight admirers of John Wilson’s forays into the world of soundtracks. One can perhaps imagine a more Frenchified solution to orchestrating this ubiquitous piano favourite, but the whole thing is done with such evident care and love that criticism is silenced. Then follow the raucous high spirits of Chabrier’s Joyeuse Marche, with its festive brass outstanding and the middle strings really digging in. Against this, however, are quieter episodes of great refinement and rhythmic point, while the dynamic range (as throughout) is mightily impressive.

With Ravel’s own orchestration of ‘Une Barque sur l’océan’ from the piano suite Miroirs we are in more ambiguous territory, not least because the composer, dissatisfied with his transcription, suppressed this arrangement and never returned to it. The mood, too, starting with a gentle seascape, soon takes on darker tones, yet this performance underlines the palpable echoes of Debussy’s contemporaneous La Mer (perhaps this was the reason that Ravel took against the orchestration, which postdates La Mer by a year). Wilson and his players make the best possible case for this version, however, and the surges and swirls can rarely have sounded so thrillingly elemental, with biting brass, woodwind by turns plangent and becalming, marvellous harp and percussion details, and shimmering strings.

Then it’s back to more popular fare with another seasoned crowd-pleaser, Saint-Saëns’s Danse macabre. The song on which this piece is based (to a text by Henri Cazalis) is seldom performed on account of its difficulty, but the composer’s orchestral transplantation of two years later is another matter altogether. With its devilishly retuned solo violin (splendidly played here by John Mills), clattering xylophone representing the dancing skeletons, tolling harp notes, limpid flute, and one of the most memorable tunes in the repertoire, this is a performance that leaps spookily from the speakers. No need to wait until Halloween to give this a spin!

Wilson wraps up this impressive disc with Albert Guiraud’s two Suites from Bizet’s Carmen, as orchestrated in line with Bizet’s original score by Fritz Hoffmann, their movements reordered and interleaved by Wilson himself. So we start (as the original overture does) with the procession of the Toreadors before moving to the gripping tremolo of the Prélude to Suite no.1. Thereafter we move hither and thither through the opera, with the ordering built on musical variety rather than a synoptic retelling of the opera’s plot. Right from the start, the Sinfonia of London players are on their mettle, and each movement, whether the Hispanic abandon of the Aragonaise, the military bearing of ‘Les Dragons d’Alcala’ or the sensuality of Carmen’s Habanera (with a well-judged trumpet solo), is as sharply characterised as one could wish. The children’s music from ‘La Garde montante’ has a charming sprightliness, the harp and flute solos of the Intermezzo are meltingly played, while the horns lend a rustic edge to the ‘Marche des Contrebandiers’ and a dusky charm to the opening of the radiantly lovely Nocturne. The closing ‘Danse bohême’ starts more slowly than is sometimes the case, but Wilson carefully increases the tempo in the final pages, ending this engaging programme in a toe-tapping frenzy.

Engineering and presentation are well up to Chandos’s usual exemplary standards, and fans of the Sinfonia of London’s ventures into the French repertoire will need no encouragement to snap up this latest album!

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Condition	Description
New	Brand new item, only ever sourced from the official UK distributor. Usually seal-wrapped, although a minority of labels do not use seal-wrap.
Used - Mint	Used item in excellent condition. Not usually seal-wrapped.
Used - Good	Used item with some minor signs of wear and tear. Never seal-wrapped.
Used - Acceptable	Used item with obvious scuffs or cosmetic damage to the case or booklet. Never seal-wrapped.

Condition	Description
New	Brand new item, only ever sourced from the official UK distributor. Usually seal-wrapped, although a minority of labels do not use seal-wrap.
Used - Mint	Used item in excellent condition. Not usually seal-wrapped.
Used - Good	Used item with some minor signs of wear and tear. Never seal-wrapped.
Used - Acceptable	Used item with obvious scuffs or cosmetic damage to the case or booklet. Never seal-wrapped.

French Orchestral Favourites

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Europadisc Review

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