Maurice Ravel’s (1875-1937)
ballet Daphnis et Chloé opened at the
Théâtre du Châtelet on the 8th June 1912 with choreography by Fokin,
sets and costumes by Bakst, Nijinsky and Karsavina in the title roles and
Pierre Monteux conducting. One can only envy those present at this premiere.
The scenario was adapted by Michel Fokine from a romance by
the Greek writer Longus, thought to date from around the 2nd century AD and concerns
the love between the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloé.
Ravel extracted music
from the ballet to make two orchestral suites but on a new release from LSO
Live http://lsolive.lso.co.uk Valery Gergiev www.mariinsky.ru/company/conductors/gergiev
and the London Symphony Orchestra http://lso.co.uk give a live performance of the complete ballet music, coupled with
Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte and Boléro.
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| SACD LSO 0696 plus bonus DVD |
There is a remarkably hushed and atmospheric opening Introduction to Daphnis et Chloé enhanced by the wide ranging SACD recording. The
music slowly rises in dynamics until orchestra and chorus sound out in all
their glory. There is a beautifully swaying ebb and flow with Gergiev finding a
controlled steady pulse for some impressive climaxes in the Danse Religieuse.
Jes jeunes filles
attirent Daphnis - Danse Générale brings some very fine rhythmically crisp
phrases and a fine sway to the dance passages that look forward to La
Valse. Danse grotesque de Dorcon is wonderfully pointed up with, surely,
some Stravinskian touches and some terrific braying brass.
Danse légère et
gracieuse de Daphnis has an enchanting mystery and elusiveness that is
really appealing with lovely phrasing and shaping, surging to a lovely peak
with chorus. The Lycenion danse brings
fine woodwind passages with such light and fleet instrumental detail as well as
much drama in the later Les pirates.
Gergiev draws some especially fine, hushed orchestral
playing as Une lumière irréelle enveloppe
le paysage arrives out of which a solitary flute emerges. There are some
quite exquisite sounds before the music picks up rhythmically for the Danse lente et mystérieuse where Gergiev
shows a real balletic sympathy where one can imagine the dancers, something one
would expect from the artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre.
Gergiev brings a real sense of restrained power before leading
into
Daphnis se prosterne
suppliant, where the fine LSO chorus bring a lovely texture to the opening
with finely controlled climaxes, brass sounding out over the choir as the music
rises to a terrific peak. The orchestra take the music quickly ahead through Voix, très lontaines - Animé et très rude -
Bryaxis ordonne d'amener la captive with such intoxicatingly accurate
playing, building some terrific dynamic textures, lovely lightness of texture
in the woodwind passages and a wonderful display of swirling woodwind as the
music builds to a fine pitch, the choir entering, adding magnificently to the
tension and pulse.
Danse suppliante de
Chloé brings a sultry dance, leisurely and free, again with Gergiev’s
sudden little surges finely done. We move through Bryaxis veit l'entraîner - L'ombre de Pân apparaît where this
conductor creates a lovely lilt, later full of mystery and lovely detail. There
is crisp percussion towards the end, which achieves an impressive gravitas and
weight.
With Lever du jour -
Daphnis cherche pour Chloé et il rêve d'elle - Daphnis et Chloé miment
l'aventure de Pan et de Syrinx, perhaps the best known sections of this
ballet score, Gergiev achieves a quite spectacularly fine orchestral texture
and detail as the sun rises with woodwind chirruping. The orchestra weave some quite
lovely passages through which woodwind appear, the chorus subtly blended within
the orchestral tapestry. Gergiev’s approach, gently controlling and pacing the
rise of the music, allows for some fine climaxes before achieving a most
wonderful climax for orchestra and choir.
Chloé réapparaît brings
a beautifully played flute solo over a hushed orchestra. Later flute, harp and
orchestra bring some terrific passages with finely judged surges.
There are more fine rhythmic passages as the music speeds
forward in Animé - Danse Générale. The
music fairly bubbles and sparkles as it bounds along. As we move through Danse De Daphnis et Chloé - Danse de Dorcon
- Danse finale (Bacchanale) there are some meaty dynamic outbursts with Gergiev
revealing all of Ravel’s wonderful orchestral texture and detail. He develops a
real sense of forward moving intensity as the music increases in speed to those
choral and orchestral surges of drama with a truly exciting, swirling coda.
This is a very balletic performance full of swirling
atmosphere and finely pointed up rhythms and colours. Applause is excised and
the recording made live in September 2009 is extremely good, though with a wide
dynamic range in the SACD layer one has to find the right volume.
Recorded with Boléro in December 2009, Pavane
pour une infante défunte
makes an ideal contrast to Daphnis et Chloé with Gergiev revealing a strangely antiquarian
feel to this piece. Various woodwind again bring some fine moments with the LSO
strings providing some particularly lovely gentle passages, full of regret and nostalgia.
Later flute and strings bring a quite lovely central section, shot through with
gentle brass and harp. A wonderful performance.
Hushed side drum and pizzicato violins bring the opening of Boléro before a flute weaves its way
forward, Gergiev developing and adding to the orchestral textures with the most
pure clarity. So many LSO members bring fine individual instrumental textures
that are needed to lift this work. As expected, Gergiev paces this music to
perfection. He develops a really inexorable momentum with great rhythmic
control. One can delight in the sheer beauty of the instrumentation which
receives a really light touch from these players who really excel as they add subtle
bluesy elements. Gergiev highlights some unusual textures that I hadn’t appreciated
before. Soon there are wonderful whooping trombone phrases before all is topped
off with a brilliant climax.
In the right hands this can be a truly impressive and
captivating exercise in orchestration.
Again these live Barbican performances are extremely well
recorded. Applause is excised. There are excellent booklet notes.
As a bonus, LSO Live provide a DVD of Gergiev and the
orchestra’s performance of
Boléro which is
finely produced with many close ups of the players. There is excellent picture quality
and very good audio.
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