Maurice Ravel composed his String Quartet in F Major in 1903, while still a student of Gabriel Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire. The work proved to be Ravel’s first major success as a composer, though his submission of the work for the Prix de Rome composition prize led to his expulsion from the Conservatoire.
The Quartet’s idyllic opening movement is an illustration of how Ravel’s scoring can be both delicate and lush. The first theme is casual sounding, yet it dominates the movement. There are few moments when it or one of its variants is not prominent, and Ravel continually brings it back and weaves it into later movements.
The second movement is a scherzo with a fast section marked by an energetic pizzicato motif and a lyrical second theme. The use of pizzicato punctuates a rhythmic complexity based on the syncopated cross-rhythms of playing 6/8 and 3/4 in alternating measures, as well as simultaneously in different instruments.
The third movement has a decidedly nocturnal feeling, because the dark-toned viola is unusually prominent. A variant of the first movement’s principal theme is an integral part of the thematic structure.
The Finale is both energetic and elusive, a character it owes to its hard-driving but shifting 5/8 meter. The more lyrical sections are, again, derived from the first movement.
Here is the wonderful Hagen Quartet to play this music for you:
