Stéphane Denève’s recorded legacy from the time he was at the helm of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra is primarily of Roussel, but now that he is Chief Conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra he has turned his attentions to Ravel. This is Vol 3 of the orchestral works, coupling the complete ballet score of Daphnis et Chloé with the Valses nobles et sentimentales.

Denève’s credentials in this music are secure and his touch is sure, but last year in quick succession there appeared two other versions of Daphnis, one of which at least presents a significant challenge to this new release. That was the disc from Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra on BIS, coupled with the Pavane pour une infante défunte (the other was from Philippe Jordan and the Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris, coupled with La valse). Nézet-Séguin had the edge, and he still does.

There is a great deal to relish in Denève’s interpretation, not least the hushed opening, the sharp characterisation of the ‘Danse grotesque de Dorcon’ or the liquid ‘Lever du jour’. Nézet-Séguin’s secret, though, is in the very real sense of movement that he brings to the music, through astute (and thoroughly natural) shaping of musical paragraphs and through the supple control of rhythm and dynamics. This is as much the case in the slower dances as in the quicker ones. For example, the Stuttgart orchestra plays the ‘Danse lente et mystérieuse des nymphes’ beautifully, but the atmosphere and the ebb and flow of the music are much more compelling with Nézet-Séguin, who also finds a more elemental force in the ‘Danse guerrière’.

Stylistically, Denève is spot on in taste and sonority, as he is in the Valses nobles et sentimentales, though, again, there are times when the music seems to call for a little more flexibility and focus than it receives.