“In a programme full of variety – Mozart, Purcell, Bach – the ensemble gave the London premiere of Martin Suckling’s In memoriam EMS (2012). This miniature “postcard”, one of several he will compose for these players, packed aural variety and luminosity into its few minutes’ duration. Microtones and harmonics, at the start, create strange tonalities reminiscent of the swoopy whoop of an Ondes Martenot. As the piece develops, the musical lines interweave independently and ethereally, as if angels had abandoned their pins to dance a Highland reel.
Suckling (b 1981), himself a violinist who grew up in Glasgow playing in ceilidh bands but who was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra, has an exciting, distinctive voice and a rigorous ear for detail. This tiny elegy is characterised by cheeping, bird-song conversation among upper strings, until a deep, lyrical cello lament emerges from the depths.””