Unlike his more popular Suite Provençale, which takes its inspiration from a single province of France, Darius Milhaud's Suite Française offers a whirlwind tour of several French regions. Its five brief movements were commissioned by an American publisher as easy pieces for wind ensemble; this was published as Milhaud's Op. 248 and the subsequent expansion for full orchestra is designated Op. 248b.

Beginning with the Atlantic coastal regions, "Normandie" is a jaunty march with a hummable melody that ultimately picks up strong accents well off the beat. A fragment of the tune spins off into a brief counter-subject that provides a moment of polytonality when it's played against the main theme in a different key. "Bretagne" is slower—lugubrious, even—with the bass instruments moaning over a forlorn, sentimental melody in the treble. Milhaud's grim, mildly dissonant harmonization of the tune feels desolate and a little threatening. "Ile-de-France" is full of bustle around a melody of almost childlike simplicity; Paris lies at this region's heart and the "Limoges" movement from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition lies in this movement's inspiration. "Alsace-Lorraine" is the suite's second slow movement, not as dour as "Bretagne" but even more nostalgic. This region was long a source of dispute between France and Germany, changing hands over the years, and Milhaud's depiction of the region becomes increasingly threatening and dissonant, until the melody finally rings out in a confident, brassy peroration. "Provence," taking music from Milhaud's own beloved region, is the sunniest, most playful, and most rhythmically challenging movement. It's a rondo with a fast, scatterbrained main theme alternating with a fife-and-tambor segment typical of the countryside and a slower, slightly more romantic subject—both of these interludes derived from the principal melody.

© All Music Guide