Living in a church tower, 193 steps above street level, was a good enough reason for the young Bohuslav Martinů to spend his evenings practising the violin. It was later to bring him a temporary living as a member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, though his objective in life was to become a composer. An enormously prolific composer, he developed an intensely personal style, which often made use of Czech thematic material. The quite remarkable Tři jezdci, written by the 12-year-old Martinů, was to herald one of the outstanding string quartet composers of the 20th century. The First Quartet was composed while Martinů was strongly influenced by the music of Ravel and Debussy, and had yet to develop the unique tonal colours we find in the Second Quartet.