“. . . Finally, the championship theme of the evening was explicit with the SCO’s first performance of Candlebird, by the orchestra’s Associate Composer, Martin Suckling. Candlebird, a set of five songs to texts by Don Paterson, which were commandingly- delivered, in speech and song, by baritone Mark Stone, spoke of love and nature and were gleamingly-crafted by this gifted young composer, draped and coloured with Suckling’s characteristically needle-sharp, exquisite palette of orchestration that set the music alight. A mesmerising piece.”