Daphnis and Chloe at La Monnaie

Ravel composed Daphnis et Chloé, the love story of two young people who grow up together, on request by Diaghilev. This superb ballet found its way to the concert hall thanks to the two orchestral suites that Ravel distilled out of it. The two piano concertos he composed almost simultaneously display many traces of the jazz whose acquaintance he had made in the USA. Ravel was able to draw an infinite range of timbres from the orchestra, which this very varied programme superbly illustrates, as it does the composer’s insight that ‘true art is a perfect balance between pure intellect and emotion.’