Le bardit doesn't, to my mind, live up to its ferocious subject matter. The "40,000 Franks" who sing Roussel's battle cry seem like a cultured, sophisticated group despite the best lust-for-blood efforts of the accompaniment. At first hearing, I thought this meant the work was a failure. After listening again, however, the work became more fascinating and powerful (which is so often the case with Roussel). In this music, I now believe, Roussel revealed more of himself than in many of his works.

When he wrote Le bardit de francs, Roussel had spent years as an officer in the navy and more years as an officer in the artillery; he had lived through the horrors of World War I. Although it is hard to think of him as a man of battle, he had experienced more of war than most of us ever hope to do. And it is not his setting of words of ferocity and glory that dominate this battle cry. No; it is the hushed, heartfelt, prayer-like ending that lingers in the mind, haunting you, eventually making you truly think about what it must be like to face battle — and death. Please, he seems to be saying, let our cause prevail. Please, let us survive. Please, let the horrors to come wash over me without destroying my soul....

The instrumental part is supplementary to the chorus. Its addition to the ensemble serves to accentuate the martial spirit of Chateaubriand's words, a spirit which is brutal and uncompromising. [Norman Demuth]

This work of Roussel's... makes an impression of grandeur, strangeness and terror. Each performance has produced in the public an extraordinary effect, and each new hearing produces enthusiastic listeners. [Catalogue de l'oeuvre d'Albert Roussel]

Roussel matches the savage heroism of the text by essentially simple means. The vocal writing is mainly homophonic, and the rhythms are direct and vigorous. [Basil Deane]