Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Daphnis et Chloé
Chœur de l’Opéra National du Rhin
Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg/Aziz Shokhakimov
rec. 2024, Palais de la musique et des congrès, Parc des expositions, Strasbourg
Warner Classics 2173262823 [57]

Daphnis et Chloé has received a couple of new recordings relatively recently, by John Wilson with the Sinfonia of London (review ~ review ~ review) and Sir Antonio Pappano with the LSO (review ~ review). As you may see from the number of links, both were extensively – and indeed, very positively – reviewed on this site, all being “Recommended” and the latter was also designated a February 2025 Recording of the Month. Furthermore, I indicated half a dozen very high quality recordings of a certain vintage in my 2022 survey of this work – so this latest release, timed to celebrate the anniversary of the composer’s birth, faces stiff competition.

It certainly begins promisingly with carefully graduated dynamics from an almost imperceptible murmur, building to a mighty first climax, and there is nice balance between momentum and the lazy, sensuous languor which characterises this score. There is a sense of acoustic space; the choir is perfectly distanced, always audible without obscuring the individual instrumental lines, and the prominence of the timpani is welcome – credit is due here to the engineers.

There is a very Gallic lightness about the orchestral sound and Shokhakimov’s subtle direction; nothing is exaggerated or underlined; Dorcon’s Grotesque Dance is amusing and quirky but not crude. Daphnis’ dance and the ensuing “Lent” shimmers and ripples delicately, contrasting with the grumbling menace of the passage leading up to “Les pirates” and the mysterious “Nocturne”, graced by some lovely playing by flautist Sandrine François and fellow wind and brass soloists. The wind machine – too often overdone – is neatly integrated into the musical texture. The “War Dance” is aptly frantic without scrambling; there is some very deft, cohesive string and brass playing.

Shokhakimov conveys perfectly the slinky, seductive, slightly jazzy quality of Chloé’s “Danse suppliante”, lingering daringly over its rhythms and generating the requisite tension in track 14 to suggest an  atmosphere “charged with strange elements”. The sunrise opening Part III is equally well managed, in that a sense of rapture is sustained over the full six-minute duration, There is more mellow flute-playing in Chloé’s “Très lent”, the lovers entwine in the dreamy, penultimate track and the final celebratory dance is joyously and explosively released. Everything is done right.

I was not expecting this issue to be so captivating but it takes a deserved place among the best, insofar as it is wholly successful in capturing a magical, otherworldly quality which eludes some interpreters; this is a work which of late seems to be leading a charmed life so far as recordings are concerned. If you love this work, you must have at least one of the three most recent studio versions – although I could not possibly promote one over another; that must be a selection made according to personal taste and none will disappoint.

Ralph Moore

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