The quartet has superficial resemblances to Debussy's String Quartet, written ten years earlier. Debussy approved of his younger colleague's work, and sent him an encouraging letter. The structure of Ravel's quartet is modelled on Debussy's, but where Debussy's music is, in Orenstein's words, "effusive, uninhibited, and openup fresh paths", Ravel's displays emotional reticence, innovation within traditional forms, and unrivalled technical mastery. Ravel followed a direction he described as "opposite to that of Debussy's symbolism", abandoning "the vagueness and formlessness of the early French impressionists in favour of a return to classic standards."