Fortunately, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, professor at the Geneva Conservatory, recognised that the real talent of the young violinist Ernest Bloch lay in composing. Yet Bloch was only able to fully develop his talent after taking up residence in the USA. His Prélude of 1925 shows all the merits of his eminent compositional skills, and the beginning of the work alone, with the gradual use of all four instruments, exerts an irresistible pull. A good twenty years earlier, Ravel had completed a string quartet in Paris that was to remain his only work in the genre. Reactions to it were divided. Gabriel Fauré, Ravel’s former teacher and dedicatee of the quartet, expressed reservations and even disapproval, while Debussy, who was otherwise often at loggerheads with Ravel, was enthusiastic about the quartet and implored him not to change a single bar. Ravel followed his advice, and today it is one of the foremost examples of early 20th century quartet writing, rivalled by only one other work, Debussy’s own string quartet.
