The Ravel Quartet’s idyllic opening movement is an illustration of how Ravel’s scoring can be both delicate and lush. The ambling first theme is unimposing, indeed casual sounding, yet it dominates the entire movement.
There are few moments when it or one of its variants is not prominent, and Ravel will continually bring it back and weave it into later movements.
The second movement is a scherzo of sorts, with a fast main section sandwiched around a slow section. The main section is marked by an energetic pizzicato motif and rapturous lyrical second theme. Its 6/8 meter sounds sometimes in three, sometimes in two, but often in both at the same time, causing a pushing and pulling sensation.
The slow middle section transforms the lyrical second theme several ways, most notably by having the second violin strum it in chords.
The “very slow” third movement has a decidedly nocturnal cast to it, not least 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 a performance of the String Quartet by Maurice Ravel:
