The spectacular score for Daphnis et Chloé , commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for his company the Ballet Russes, is Ravel’s most ambitiously scaled work. First performed in 1912 and designated a ‘symphonie chorégraphique’, it runs for about an hour and calls for a large orchestra (including miniature bronze cymbals, castanets and a wind machine) and a wordless chorus as it portrays the adventures of a pair of young pastoral lovers in ancient Greece. Among the other characters are nymphs, satyrs, marauding pirates and the god Pan.

The most famous passage in Daphnis et Chloé is the glorious evocation of a Mediterranean sunrise that opens Part 3: birds twitter ecstatically and the music rises in waves of iridescent colour and warmth. The ballet ends with a thrilling, dionysian ‘Danse générale’, set to striking effect in 5/4 time.

When the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, conducted by its dynamic Tashkent-born music director Aziz Shokakhimov, performed  Daphnis et Chloé in concert in 2024, Résonances Lyriques admired “a euphoric soundscape”, citing the “opalescent timbres … captivating unity and legato in the upper strings; controlled, noble amplitude in the lower strings; impeccable, often seemingly weightless woodwind; brass that was not so much keen-edged as embracing; multicoloured percussion … and harps that were both intense and aristocratic.” DNA (Dernières nouvelles d’Alsace) enthused that “The famous finale of this masterpiece lived up to every expectation. The assembled forces delivered a sumptuous crescendo, sensuous and heated, a spontaneous, thrilling explosion of life.”