Ravel’s seemingly most famous work Dafnes and Cloe is very mind-blowing. I love the whole-tone scales combined with the detailed imagery of birds chirping as the strings and other textures lighten and brighten in color depicting sunrise coming up. It starts out with the quiet plucks of the harp in a harmony of fourths and there is choir in the background making the texture seem bigger than it is. The operatic chords in whole-tone fashion are just astonishing. The frequent switching of keys in this ballet a show topper. The different divisions of each of the sections—strings with brass cutting to woodwinds is spell-binding. Could this be what heaven sounds like?
There is this undeniable surge of the harmonic texture continuing to fly up into an endless ceiling or sky. This was the case with his contemporaries the famous Sergei Rachmaninoff and Debussy. This surge takes us on to other movements with more intensive fervor than the previous with various instrumental calls (i.e the trumpet call that heralds in the second movement).
There are many points in the texture where there are these highly frenetic glimmers of sound that want to drag you further into the scene. These scenes will definitely keep the listener enticed. It is not something that is wicked but beautiful in the sound colors, depicting the couple actors’ escapades on stage, whether ascending highs to falling lows. There is a part where one of the two is savagely knocked unconsciousness while the whole rest of the people flee and whisper in quiet mumblings as they do it.
In another life, Dafnes and Cloe go back to each other in a loving embrace and all is well. Other dancers, as is referenced by the orchestra changing gears, join on stage and do a Bacchanale —a kind of celebratory dance. It is worth several listens, even at an hour long, will really hold you. It’s a fantastic choreographic symphony.
