Martin Suckling’s storm, rose, tiger, a 17-minute orchestral commission from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, wowed audiences at its first airing in 2011. The SCO revived the piece this April in a run of Scottish performances with conductor George Benjamin, a one-time teacher of Suckling’s. On second hearing the beguiling piece proved as powerful as ever with the press proclaiming Suckling as ‘a major voices of his generation’.
 




PRESS:

‘probably the most important figure in Scotland's music since James MacMillan’

*****
‘The highlight for me… was the dazzling performance of Martin Suckling's uncapitalised SCO commission, entitled storm, rose, tiger, an exhilarating essay in orchestral energy and colour, which, in its every needlepoint gesture, confirms the young Glaswegian as a major voices of his generation, an astounding orchestrator, and, with Sally Beamish, probably the most important figure in Scotland's music since James MacMillan erupted on to the scene almost 25 years ago.’
The Herald (Michael Tumelty), 29 April 2013
 
‘the raw fragility of its evolving microtonal language was awesome’

*****
‘It was worthwhile to hear another performance by the SCO of Martin Suckling’s storm, rose, tiger… in Benjamin’s hands the raw fragility of its evolving microtonal language was awesome, the final moments more Sibelian than I’ve ever heard it.’
The Scotsman (Ken Walton), 27 April 2013
 
‘rigorously engineered and confidently executed’

****
‘…it was fascinating to hear Martin Suckling's excellent SCO commission storm, rose, tiger for a second time… Benjamin (once Suckling's teacher) used his uncompromising sharp edges to reveal just how rigorously engineered and confidently executed the score is.’
The Guardian (Kate Molleson), 29 April 2013
 
‘a skein of beguiling sonorities’

****
‘Suckling, a Glaswegian born in 1981, has clear musical ideas and knows how to develop them, always leading the ear with a skein of beguiling sonorities. Therein lies the success of storm, rose, tiger… The opening section, lush and luminous, pits string and brass cantilenas against disruptive woodwind commentaries, generating a sense of creative struggle. Then comes a sequence of intensely expressive polyphonies, almost pibroch-like in their reverberant, lilting effects. After some moody, meditative trumpet calls, the piece ends with a passacaglia of majestic pulse and grandeur.’
Financial Times (Andrew Clark), 29 April 2013
 
‘Suckling’s erudite piece’

****
‘ Martin Suckling’s storm, rose, tiger… [was] given a meaty performance under Benjamin’s quickening baton. Driving Suckling’s erudite piece on with urgency, Benjamin produced a florid swell of slurred notes and dynamic colour that gave way to gentler thoughts before the growling bass drove microtonal chords into a net that cut them off mid-flow.’
The Times (Sarah Urwin Jones), 30 April 2013