Ravel’s score for the ballet Daphnis et Chloé is a concert-hall favourite in its shortened form; here, Philippe Jordan and his Paris Opéra orchestra bring us the entire score, fresh from ballet performances they played on last spring. Their experience in the theatre shows in what is an unflashy but ultimately very satisfying interpretation, solidly paced. They also have the luxury of the opera company’s chorus as the wordless off-stage choir. Jordan doesn’t go for easy, fleeting effects, yet succeeds in making the orchestra sound iridescent, evoking the music’s sense of shifting, glittering light. The closing dance is fast and wonderfully taut. The ballet is paired with Ravel’s La Valse – and again, if after the ominous opening Jordan plays down the darkness of a work that is, underneath the glitter, a bitter farewell to a lost society, he brings it all back in the closing minutes, to cataclysmic effect.
