Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2 [download]

In turn-of-the-century Paris, Ravel composed a ballet about ancient Greece for a Russian dance company. The result was music of fluid, diaphanous beauty, a languid drama of danger and desire. Confronting its strange, modern rhythms, the dancers are said to have chanted the name of Ballet Russes impresario ‘Ser-gei Dia-ghi-lev’ to stay on beat.

On this digital EP, Rattle lavishes care and attention on every note of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé Suite No 2, which the composer described as a symphonie choreographique.