This recording of Daphnis, like the ballet itself, begins so softly that it is not until some seconds in that you become satisfied that it is not a blank disc. Yannick Nézet-Séguin certainly has confidence in the musicians of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra to deliver a veiled, magical sound, and they live up to his expectations here not merely in the hushed swathes of the Introduction and ‘Danse religieuse’ but also in the wider spectra of sonority, atmosphere and colour that Ravel conjures up through his discreet, sentient use of a vast orchestra.

If it is the two suites from the ballet that are more frequently performed, the complete score is by no means a rarity, with notable recorded versions going back to Pierre Monteux and Ernest Ansermet, and including more recent ones by Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink and Claudio Abbado. But Nézet-Séguin’s is a compelling addition. He seems to have this music in his soul, and he unquestionably has it at his fingertips, with a secure hold on the drama, the unfolding of events and the ballet’s cohesive span. Moments of high activity, such the ‘Danse guerrière’ in the second part, are given a terrifying intensity; but then, immediately afterwards, the performance reveals its quiet sensitivity in a lovingly shaped ‘Danse suppliante de Chloé’. A similar, beguiling contrast emerges from the juxtaposition of the ‘Pantomime’ and the final ‘Danse générale’ in Part 3. The Netherlands Radio Choir add wordless haloes to a characterful, involving interpretation.