Program
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Wood Works Nordic folk tunes arranged by The Danish String Quartet.
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Rhiannon Giddens: At the Purchaser's Option

Maurice Ravel: String Quartet in F Major
I. Allegro moderato 
II. Assez vif, très rythmé 
III. Très lent 
IV. Vif et agité

Date: January 12, 2025
​Time: 1:00pm
Location: Grace United Methodist Church   
Address: 6199 Waterman Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63112
Admission: Free

Concert Artists

Ann Fink, Violin

Yin Xiong, Cello

XiaoXiao Qiang, Violin

Alvin McCall, Cello

Eva Kozma, Violin

Nathan Lowry, Violin

Shannon Farrell Williams, Viola

Chris Tantillo, Viola

Ravel's String Quartet

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Ravel attended the Paris Conservatoire, but his unconventional ideas had incurred the displeasure of its ultra-conservative director Théodore Dubois and some other faculty members. His friend and teacher Gabriel Fauré continued to encourage and advise him, and Ravel made continual efforts to win the country's top musical award, the Prix de Rome, in the face of resistance from the Conservatoire regime. By 1904, it was becoming clear to the musical public that Ravel was the outstanding French composer of his generation. Among his works by that date were the piano pieces Pavane pour une infante défunte and Jeux d'eau, and 1904 saw the premieres of his orchestral song cycle Shéhérazade and the String Quartet.

The quartet's structure is modeled on that of Claude Debussy's String Quartet, written in 1893, although Ravel's musical ideas strongly contrast with Debussy's. Debussy admired Ravel's piece rather more than did its dedicatee, Ravel's teacher Gabriel Fauré.