Naxos has done well by Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, with a handful of recordings of his symphonie chorégraphique in the company’s recent history. Indeed, Leonard Slatkin’s is the second in the past decade to feature the Orchestre National de Lyon, the first set down by his predecessor as music director, Jun Märkl, in 2009. This disc marks the fourth volume in Slatkin’s Ravel series but I’m not convinced it’s preferable to Märkl’s earlier effort.

Slatkin’s chief problem is a lack of urgency. Even if the premiere was overshadowed by another Sergey Diaghilev commission which opened two days earlier in Paris (the Prélude à L’après-midi d’un faune, in which Vaslav Nijinsky had caused a scandal as the faun), Daphnis is an intensely dramatic work. Slatkin is more content to revel in the languorous stretches of Ravel’s meticulous score than to unbutton his shirt in the more hedonistic sections. In the ‘Danse guerrière’ Slatkin is too polite – Märkl really tears into this war dance – and the ‘Danse générale’ finale doesn’t climax quite as orgasmically.

However, in the ‘Lever du jour’ woodwinds burble and chirrup evocatively and the flute-playing in the ‘Pantomime’ (possibly the same principal flautist as for Märkl – there is no listing of players in the booklet) is of limpid beauty and poise. The new recording scores in its local choice of chorus, Spirito sounding a good deal more ethereal than an earthbound MDR Leipzig Radio Chorus. No recent recording quite challenges Decca’s gorgeous account with the LSO under Pierre Monteux (who conducted the ballet’s premiere), which remains one of the most magical in the catalogue.

The recorded sound is admirably detailed and the disc is padded out with Ravel’s own shimmering orchestration of Une barque sur l’océan.