{"id":47712,"date":"2025-04-24T22:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T22:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/47712\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T22:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T22:12:16","slug":"london-philharmonic-orchestra-daphnis-and-chloe-southbank-centre-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/47712\/","title":{"rendered":"London Philharmonic Orchestra: Daphnis and Chloe\u0301 \u2013 Southbank Centre, London"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Conductor: <\/strong><strong>Edward Gardner<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a bold and breathtaking collaboration, Circa and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner, deliver an evening of extraordinary sensory and emotional power at the Royal Festival Hall. The programme pairs Ravel\u2019s Daphnis and Chlo\u00e9 with La Valse, performed in a one-act, interval-free 70-minute performance that marries music, movement and myth with striking imagination.<\/p>\n<p>Circa\u2019s performers, directed by Yaron Lifschitz, bring a sculptural, kinetic intensity to the stage to a piece of music once notoriously difficult to choreograph. Twisting, tumbling, and soaring across the space, they embody the sweeping romance of Daphnis and Chlo\u00e9 with physical precision and poetic force. From tender and intimate moments of stillness through to explosive ensemble choreography, their movement feels intrinsically bound to the music\u2019s ebb and surge. The score\u2019s vastness \u2013 enhanced by the BBC Singers \u2013 is deftly handled by Gardner, who guides the LPO through Ravel\u2019s shimmering textures and ever-changing dynamics with nuance and control.<\/p>\n<p>The opening sunrise sequence of Part III is especially sublime, the orchestration glowing with sensual warmth, mirrored by Circa\u2019s displays. The final \u2018Bacchanale\u2019 erupts with feverish joy, culminating in a dazzling close.<\/p>\n<p>The final piece, La Valse, is more shadow than light \u2013 a sharp contrast in tone and spirit. Where Daphnis and Chlo\u00e9 celebrates youthful love and the natural world, La Valse spirals into chaos and collapse. Here, Circa\u2019s movement is at times jagged, frantic, even grotesque, evoking a society on the brink. Ravel\u2019s score \u2013 rich, ironic, and increasingly unhinged \u2013 is delivered flawlessly.<\/p>\n<p>This is a triumph of collaborative performance that is far more than just a concert. It is a conversation between sound and body, a meditation on love and ruin.<\/p>\n<p>Commissioned by the Southbank Centre and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, this production leaves no doubt of the enduring potency of Ravel\u2019s music \u2013 and the possibilities of classical music performances that dare to push boundaries.<\/p>\n<p>A standing ovation well-deserved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reviewed on 23 April 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conductor: Edward Gardner In a bold and breathtaking collaboration, Circa and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Edward&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,26016,26017,26018,26019,26020,393,4884,26021,257,11643,269,26022,6080,26023,16,15,26024],"class_list":{"0":"post-47712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-circa","10":"tag-circus","11":"tag-classical","12":"tag-daphnis-and-chloe","13":"tag-edward-gardner","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-la-valse","17":"tag-london","18":"tag-london-philharmonic-orchestra","19":"tag-music","20":"tag-ravel","21":"tag-review","22":"tag-royal-festival-hall","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom","25":"tag-yaron-lifschitz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114395240418048974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}