Squire's style of playing has been described as "of the old school" as he was taught by Piatti. In a comparison with the cellist Pablo Casals of the number of portamenti used in the first twenty-six bars of the slow movement of the Elgar cello concerto, Squire has been described as using twenty-three portamenti (in his 1930 recording) compared to only ten used by Casals (recorded in 1945). In addition, Squire's portamenti have been described as "slow and unsoftened by diminuendi" ; Casals's as "extremely varied and subtle".