Fifty years after his death, Vaughan Williams continues to hold a place in the affections of English concert goers and many of the major festivals this year feature works by the great man. The North Wall Festival paid its tribute to Vaughan Williams last week with a performance by the Sacconi Quartet of the composer's first string quartet.

In 1908, Vaughan Williams spent several months studying with Ravel in Paris, and this quartet dates from later in that year. The music betrays a distinctly French influence - of Debussy as well as Ravel. It is an early work, pre-dating the Sea Symphony, and a piece in which the composer was still finding his voice. The players gave as committed an account of it as one could have wished for but the music never quite takes off. I kept feeling that Vaughan Williams's second quartet would have been a better choice for the evening. It is a far more convincing work, with a lovely final movement, and would surely have been a finer tribute to the composer's memory.

Prior to the Vaughan Williams, we heard Haydn's Op54 No 3, one of a set of six quartets dedicated to the violinist Johann Tost and completed in 1788. The second movement is particularly seductive and includes some elaborate ornamentation by the first violin. The performance throughout was polished and full of elegance.

The high point of the concert, though, was the final work - Ravel's string quartet, dating from 1902. The juxtaposition of this with the Vaughan Williams was presumably intended to illustrate the influences on the latter's early work. The Ravel is an assured and engaging piece. The pizzicato theme in the second movement is charming, and the contrast between movements well defined. The Sacconi Quartet seemed to come into their own in this music, playing with great feeling.

These are talented young musicians and, hopefully, we will be seeing them in Oxford again soon.