A thrusting Daphnis et Chloé brings the BBC Proms Ravel celebrations to a climax

At the Festival Ravel last week, I just missed catching a performance of his greatest (and most substantial) work: Daphnis et Chloé. John Wilson, who used the pandemic lockdown to edit a new edition of the score, correcting hundreds of errors, came to the rescue last night with his all-star Sinfonia of London at the BBC Proms. Wilson’s recording of Ravel’s ballet earned plenty of plaudits, but to hear him conduct it live was a special thrill.

Soft dynamics are a real challenge in the 5000+ seater hall, the Arena sardined with Prommers, and the score emerged amid a splutter of coughs, but once the chorus – which Ravel uses like an additional orchestral section – and horns greeted the afternoon sun, the music slowly unfurled, stretching into life.

Wilson clearly adores Ravel’s symphonie chorégraphique and lavished tremendous care on orchestral balance and sonorities. He was aided by some great solo playing. Looking across the stage, one could pick out principal players from the major London orchestras: Daniel Jemison (bassoon) leading the cowherd Dorcon’s clumsy dance; James Fountain’s incisive trumpet; former LSO flute Adam Walker playing with crystalline purity in the Pantomime before the balletic flicks and trills kicked in.

The 48-strong Sinfonia of London Chorus, making their Proms debut, blended superbly and sang with vigour. It was little surprise to see Simon Halsey emerge to take his bow as their Chorusmaster.

Not the most animated of conductors, Wilson often seems to do little more than beat time and cue his players, but there were moments where, gripping the podium rail, he drove both chorus and orchestra with verve. The Danse guerrière in the pirates’ camp oozed testosterone and the closing bacchanal had irresistible thrust. And that most famous of musical sunrises, the Lever du jour which opens Part 3, rippled magically.

Daphnis was the highlight of an evening where the focus was on love and lust, priapic horns making whoopee in Richard Strauss’ Don Juan to open the programme, wrapped up in lasciviously rich string tone. The love was more chaste in Leonard Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's "Symposium", a curious non-concerto for violin and orchestra reflecting the friendly contest between Ancient Greek poets.

It’s a work that’s difficult to love, but James Ehnes has it comfortably under his skin. His silky playing across its five movements (and seven poets) ranged from serenity and profundity to the jazzy inflections of the Alcibiades section to close, Wilson timing the syncopations with snap. Ehnes played with unforced tone, always listening to the orchestra attentively.

After explaining that he was playing – for one night only – the 1715 Stradivarius Alard, Ehnes demonstrated its nifty cornering in the finale of a Bach sonata. But that wasn’t quite the end of his work for the evening. Peering across the First Violins, you’d have spotted him there, nestled in the back desks, guesting in Ravel’s ballet. Collegiate to the last.