Daphnis & Chloe / Meditation on Orpheus

Sergey Dyagilev commissioned Ravel to write music for the ballet Daphnis et Chloe with choreography by Michel Fokine: Daphnis was danced by Nijinsky. This 'choreographic symphony', in Ravel's words, is a pastoral romance that drew from the composer a succession of beguiling scenes paying tribute as much to the France of the late eighteenth century as to any Greek setting. The score is masterly, ranging from the luminous to a Bacchanale, in a musical fresco of unrivalled beauty. Alan Hovhaness's Meditation on Orpheus evokes the mystery and charged energy of ancient Greece.