This perception of a difference in attitude toward music led him to listen to English composers of the early 20th century such as Britten, Delius, Warlock and Elgar. Re-orchestrating a Warlock composition for big band gave him the idea of doing the reverse, that is, writing jazz for a string ensemble. Thus was the Suite born. The melody is based on Ross' composition Vortex, written right after his first visit to London, and it feels right at home here. The nearly ten-minute movement is contemporary but most accessible.
All material is based on a twelve-tone row.
The long atonal chords in the beginning are derived by multiplication of intervals within the row, and so are the rhythmic values and the position of the notes. After this the chords work their way up again at increasing speed and agility. The following solo vamp is an original quote of the row which leads into rising chords like in the beginning, this time broken up rhythmically, but again solely consisting of 'row material'. Now, I'm afraid I wouldn't have gotten all that without some help. One can definitely hear echoes of the Adagio movement from Britten's Variation on Theme by Frank Bridge.