Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

The suite plays as one continuous sweep in three connected sections. "Daybreak" opens with a slow wash of sound built from rippling woodwinds and strings divided into many parts, imitating birdsong and the first light over a landscape; a solo flute and clarinet trade a rising melody as the music gradually brightens, and offstage or hushed brass mark the sunrise. Without pause, "Pantomime" follows: a long, winding flute solo represents the god Pan playing his pipes, accompanied by delicate, floating orchestral color that shifts constantly in texture. The mood turns playful and mysterious before the music gathers energy and slides directly into the finale. "General Dance" is the payoff: a driving dance in an irregular, lopsided meter that keeps shifting where the beat falls, built from short repeating cells that pile up across the orchestra. Ravel adds wordless chorus in the full ballet score, though the suite is often heard with orchestra alone. The music accelerates and thickens in orchestration until it breaks into a whirling, full-throttle close, one of the most electrifying endings in the orchestral repertoire.

Ravel composed Daphnis et Chloé between 1909 and 1912 on a commission from Sergei Diaghilev for his Ballets Russes, basing the scenario on an ancient Greek pastoral romance. The full ballet, scored for orchestra and wordless chorus, premiered in Paris in 1912 with choreography by Michel Fokine, but its complicated staging and rehearsal history limited its success. Ravel extracted two concert suites from the score so the music could reach audiences without the ballet. The second suite draws on the final scenes of the ballet, covering sunrise, the shepherd Daphnis reunited with Chloé, and the closing celebration. It quickly became far more popular in the concert hall than the staged ballet itself and remains one of Ravel's most frequently performed orchestral works.