reviews   

GAUDIANA - SYMPHONIC STUDIES '... Schurmann's Gaudiana is dedicated to his wife Carolyn and reveals his admiration for the Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926), and in particular for the unfinished cathedral La Sagrada Familia - indeed the composer has stated that on a recent visit he was unexpectedly moved by the building's innate sadness and prescient drama, the interior of which he has likened to an enormous empty carcass. This is not to imply Schurmann's music is programmatic or that one need be familiar with the architecture which inspired it, for this piece weaves a powerful symphonic argument, being a 25-minute set of symphonic studies, falling into six movements. However, the long slow opening chorale scored for strings alone, with its impassioned, almost elegiac, theme announced by cellos near the outset, seemed to form a telling musical invocation of the atmosphere the composer describes. Percussion heralds the start of the next movement and the entrance of the rest of the orchestra with music of a more forceful nature, which at times features the rhetoric and volatility associated with the composer in works such as the early orchestral piece Six Studies of Francis Bacon, although in more refined vein. Yet another movement features very elegant string writing, imbued with delicate patterning in the other sections of the orchestra which betrays the influence of gamelan music which Schurmann imbibed in his Indonesian childhood. By contrast a discernible influence with a more local flavour is music suggestive of the Sardana, the Catalonian round dance. The final movement is marked by energetic music which leads to series of climaxes, before returning to the dramatic yet quiet string music of the opening (underscored by timpani), to end ominously on a fading string chord. The work was conducted with the infectious energy and aplomb so typical of Rumon Gamba and was greeted most enthusiastically by the audience: the composer being visibly moved to be twice called to platform and so warmly received by Gaudí's compatriots.' Tim Mottershead Tempo Magazine 'Gaudiana by Gerard Schurmann delineates with symphonic mastery the capricious architecture of Gaudí. It contains an abundance of orchestral devices within a solid musical construction.' Manel Cereijo El Periodico de Catalunya, Barcelona 'Gaudiana, Symphonic Studies by Gerard Schurmann, inspired by the works of Antoni Gaudí, displays an intense expressivity within a sincere style, not clearly tonal but with tonal centres. The work begins with a long, slow introduction by the string section, after which the percussion introduces the second section, in which the whole orchestra participates.' Xavier Pujol El Pais, (Edicion Nacional), Madrid 'The Symphonic Studies, Gaudiana, 25 minutes in duration, is a composition inspired by the work of "the most famous Catalan in the world." The piece, however, is intentionally not descriptive, but rather captures the feelings of the works by this modernist genius, bringing them to life in the music.' El Mundo 'Gaudiana, by Schurmann, a piece which resonates the Catalan dance sardanas, is gripping for its skilled orchestral writing.' Juan Carlos Moreno Ritmo

VIOLIN CONCERTO 'I love it violinistically because it is singing in character.' Ruggiero Ricci The Strad 'This concerto brims over with purposeful, rich melody. It deserves a virtuoso like Ruggiero Ricci to perform it; the remarkably difficult solo part sang and flowed with liquid ease. The cadenza, not an empty ornament but a profound synthesis of the preceding movement, would almost stand as a piece by itself. Just as remarkable was the effective use of single percussion and harp notes in soft passages, and the prominent role given to the orchestral strings.' The Musicial Times 'The work has two long movements, one of considerable weight and drive, the other with a theme and variations of ravishing delicacy. It allows the soloist the usual trills, dramatic double-stoppings and operatic leaps from one extreme register to another. The overall appeal derives from the melodic beauty which enriches its pages. Certainly I was aware of an enlivening continuity and impact throughout.' The Daily Telegraph 'Gerard Schurmann's impressive and hugely entertaining Concerto for Orchestra is fairly recent (1996: written for the centenary of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) but it is astonishing that the 25-year-old Violin Concerto has had to wait so long for its first recording. The two works have many features in common, the most audible and attractive of which is sheer fertile inventiveness: Schurmann seems to be able to write endless sequences of striking, absorbing and dramatic new ideas. As you listen, however - and this adds to rather than diminishes the pleasure - you realise how very tautly both works are argued and how skilful he is at developing and transforming ideas. 'The two-movement Violin Concerto is a disarming demonstration of this, and both my review and Martin Anderson's excellent booklet note will very slightly spoil it for you by revealing that the beautifully tender theme of its finale - even more songlike and lyrical in its first variation - will eventually and almost imperceptibly transform itself into a re-statement of the germ motive that underlay most of the very varied first movement. The whole Concerto, indeed, is full of ideas, and most of them are idiomatically violinistic rather than showily virtuoso - it was written for Ruggiero Ricci's golden jubilee as a performer. Other melodies recall the gamelan music Schurmann heard as a child - he was born in Java of Dutch and Hungarian parents - and something of this is still present in the Concerto for Orchestra alongside a still further matured orchestral mastery. Even more than the Violin Concerto this work has all that it takes to become genuinely popular: vividly dramatic gesture (the imperative fortissimo chords at the outset, the muttering choir of drums that launches the third movement), bold and striking melodies (each movement has at least one), emotional depth (that third movement has as climax an eloquent lament) and plentiful demands for orchestral splendour. The composer, an experienced conductor (not only of his own music), secures fine performances; Olivier Charlier evidently fell more than a little in love with Schurmann's violin lines in his Concerto; the BBC Philharmonic play splendidly and are admirably recorded. Michael Oliver Gramophone Awards issue Gerard Schurmann has one of the most unusual and diverse pedigrees of any English composer. A pupil of Alan Rawsthorne and resident in London from the start of World War II, Schurmann (like his older countryman Henk Badings) was born in the Dutch East Indies, then a colony of the Netherlands, which he once served as a cultural attaché and where he also conducted at Hilversum Radio for a number of years. But most surprisingly, for the past two decades, he has lived primarily in Los Angeles! This exceptionally cosmopolitan background is reflected in the professional sophistication and assured craftsmanship of his multi-dimensional muse. Written for Ruggiero Ricci, the 1974 Violin Concerto is an excellent example of Schurmann's initial style - a kind of rugged neo-Baroque manner embellished with serially-divided flourishes. In the 1996 Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony, a wholly new aspect of Schurmann's development comes to the fore. With its aggressively flashy opening and its dextrous exploitation of orchestral groups and timbres, this score marks a significant loosening up of his language, where a new emphasis on drama and color (which was always implicit in his earlier efforts) makes for a much more immediately accessible experience. This piece, like the contemporaneous Cello Concerto ("The Gardens of Exile"), is bursting with genuine warmth and personality. It is one of the most seductive orchestral showpieces of the 1990s. As a seasoned conductor, Schurmann gives these two very complex scores extremely flavorful realizations, and violinist Olivier Charlier is fully up to the mark in taking on the considerable technical challenges of the concerto. Given Chandos's state-of-the-art sonics, this makes for an outstanding release affording an important composer greater exposure. Paul A Snook Fanfare Magazine Gerard Schurmann's recent Concerto for Orchestra (1996), commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony, is an entirely new, original and arresting experience. He brings a wholly contemporary American pulsating drive, a richness of colouring and sour-sweet harmonic imagery which recalls his teacher, Alan Rawsthorne. The technique is as brilliantly assured as the idiom. Note the breathtaking recapitulation, in the final movement, of the first movement's subject-matter, complete with stretti and metric modulation. The work is in some ways a salute to a vibrant and proud American industrial city (shades in this of Hindemith's Pittsburgh Symphony). Mighty pleased the Pittsburgh Orchestra should be. Schurmann's Violin Concerto (1978) was slow in gestation: the composer thought long and hard about issues of balance between a large orchestra and an instrument whose delicate and intimate hue can be so easily swamped. The secret seems to be, on one hand, dialogue with orchestral tuttis and on the other, complementary colouristic accompaniment for the soloist calculated so as not to obscure the high tessituras. The Concerto is cast in two large movements of more than 15 minutes each. The magnificent second movement, in variation form, is at first like an evolving nocturne, growing ever more mysterious and oriental before gradually embracing previous material and resolving all quests cogently and affirmatively. This is a most satisfying release, very thoughtfully directed by the composer from the podium and with Chandos's usual top-notch production quality control. Bret Johnson Tempo What is most striking about these two substantial works - the Violin Concerto, composed for Ruggiero Ricci in 1978, and the Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Orchestra in 1996 - is the vivid and delicate command of orchestral colour, and the craftsmanship of the writing. The five-movement orchestral concerto is hugely energetic, the two-movement violin work more reflectively lyrical. Andrew Clements The Guardian Gerard Schurmann is a musical cosmopolitan who perhaps has never been wholly assimilated wherever he has lived. Son of a Dutch sugar-planter father and a Hungarian mother who had studied piano with Bartók, he was born in Java, where gamelan music left an imprint on his musical language that can be sensed to this day. After service in the RAF, as Dutch cultural attaché in London, and as conductor of the radio orchestra in Hilversum, he lived for a long time in the UK, but has been resident in Los Angeles since 1981. Not that he has been unsuccessful in his craft, as this CD (the first of a Schurmann series) will testify. He handles large forces with skill and absolute technical command. He studied with Alan Rawsthorne, and his own music displays something of his teacher's elegance and pungency; perhaps also its emotional reticence. Schurmann's Violin Concerto, completed in 1978, is in a mildly unusual two-movement form, the second a set of variations. Certainly 'violinistic' to the core, it was written for the golden jubilee of Ruggiero Ricci, its first interpreter. This is beautiful music, beguilingly scored and continuously inventive. The much more recent Concerto for Orchestra, a commission for the 1996 centenary of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, resembles in its five-movement form that of Bartók's masterpiece in the same genre, but the debt is less than even Schurmann seems to think. Written in his early seventies, with a sense of hope and release after recovering from prostate cancer, this is a vigorous, direct, brightly coloured orchestral showpiece that nevertheless makes a genuine emotional impact - not only in the punchy outer movements but in the deeply felt and deeply expressed slow movement, subtitled 'A Spirit in Mourning'. By the composer's own testimony, this movement arises from thoughts of war into a spirit of lament, and the disturbing coda, with its minatory drum attacks, is probably the most remarkable music on the disc. Schurmann entitles his first movement 'Summa ferri' ('The gist of iron'). With its brazen sforzato march-rhythms, it evidently evokes a vision of the Pittsburgh steel mills (shades therefore of an earlier Pittsburgh commission, Hindemith's Pittsburgh Symphony). Those rhythms are recalled and developed, along with much else, including gamelan tintinnabulations, in the synoptic and optimistic finale, entitled 'Le Grand Concert'. Altogether this is an effective and highly enjoyable work - surely one of the most distinguished recent additions to a genre that's burdened by more than its fair share of meretricious display pieces. Schurmann, a conductor of long experience, directs what seems a wholly committed performance of requisite bravura from the BBC Philharmonic. The entire disc is beautifully engineered, pretty well in the demonstration class as regards warmth and immediacy. Calum MacDonald International Record Review ... the Concerto for Orchestra quite definitely arrives! Nor does it disappoint at any time through its five movements. All is musically secure; a composer who knows exactly what is to be said and, in terms of the orchestra, exactly how to say it with skilful lucidity. It is both exuberant and moving, and a great pleasure to be in the company of such confident artistry. The Violin Concerto was written for Ruggiero Ricci and took four years in the making, appearing for the first time in 1978 celebrating Ricci's golden jubilee ... It is gratefully written, allowing the violin to play its natural singing role. It is in two movements; the first an 'introduction and allegro' design; and the second a set of finely made variations on an exquisitely lyrical theme. Patric Standford Music & Vision Schurmann's output is distinguished, and this important new issue was well worth waiting for. Both works are fine compositions indeed; the Concerto for Orchestra is, I have no hesitation in saying, a masterpiece. Written for Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra it is a stunningly successful amalgam of those qualities which mark this composer's work: principally, that very rare quality of being able to actually think in purely orchestral terms. This music is, above all, supremely natural in terms of sound and therefore of expression. The Violin Concerto, written for Ruggiero Ricci, is another remarkably fine score, in two movements. This moving and fascinating music receives a splendid performance by Olivier Charlier, with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Schurmann himself. The recording is flawless. Robert Matthew-Walker Musical Opinion Schurmann's distinctive voice combines the gestural and structural cohesiveness of the German tradition with a sensitivity to instrumental colour more redolent of the French school. Lyricism and espressivo is well to the fore, highlighted by a number of stratospherically challenging moments for the soloist ... The theme and variations second movement sounds particularly magical in Charlier's sensitive hands. It would be amiss not to applaud the stunning virtuosity of the BBC Philharmonic in the Concerto for Orchestra, glowingly captured by the Chandos producers. Julian Haylock The Strad Schurmann's orchestration is dazzling - a combination of French fastidiousness and American boldness. The playing, both from the BBC Philharmonic and violinist Olivier Charlier, is magnificent - polished, assured and full of focused energy - and the recordings are vintage Chandos. The opening of the Concerto for Orchestra is a splendid Technicolor assault: it's music that makes sure you sit up straight and take notice. Schurmann is clearly master of his means, and his imaginative scope is broad. Stephen Johnson BBC Music Magazine Gerard Schurmann openly acknowledges basing his 1996 Concerto for Orchestra on Bartók's -- deliberately emulating the latter's orchestration and following his five-movement layout with two large movements flanking three of intermezzo character. Schurmann's finale also is a rip-snorting, jet-propulsion extravaganza. Of course, Schurmann's modernist and tonally free musical language is a long way from Bartók's. The entire concerto is an exploration of the infinite varieties of orchestral timbres, and it frequently generates tremendous energy. As an orchestral showpiece, it's impressive, due in no small measure to the BBC Philharmonic's powerful, exacting performance under the composer's direction. In his booklet note Schurmann contends that violin concertos work best when the solo part is to some degree based on tonality, though it would be disingenuous to describe his 1978 Violin Concerto as "tonal" (unless you mean in the same way Berg's Lulu is "tonal"). The first movement's three-note main theme is easily defined, but the violin's dissonant, angular ruminations soon take us far away from the opening's alluring atmosphere. Schurmann's solo writing challenges the protagonist without indulging in sound effects for their own sake. He also succeeds at making the violin clearly heard even during tutti passages (which are all brilliantly effective), a skill he learned from studying Bartók's Violin Concerto. Olivier Charlier performs the solo part smartly, showing a remarkable ability to keep his playing focused amid the near-continuously shifting accompaniment. As conductor, Schurmann turns in another committed rendering of his own work, and Chandos' recording presents the music in a somewhat large yet detailed acoustic. This is definitely worth hearing, though its appeal primarily will be to the modern music fan. Victor Carr Jr ClassicsToday Looking for excellent new contemporary orchestral works? GERARD SCHURMANN: Concerto for Orchestra, Violin Concerto. A splendid pair of works which will appeal to collectors of the 20th century English tradition or orchestral music in general. A vivid, exciting orchestral spectacular! Records International Catalogue

Francis Bacon's study of Gerard Schurmann

SIX STUDIES OF FRANCIS BACON 'In Six Studies of Francis Bacon, which received its first performance at the Dublin Festival last night conducted by the composer, Gerard Schurmann has brought off an entirely successful translation into orchestral sound of the impact of the painter who was his friend for several years. Not only is the range of Bacon's own art from the grotesque and savage to a kind of uneasy repose conveyed in vivid outline, the composer has added an extra dimension in his own response. Through the medium of a large orchestra deftly controlled, and some impressively rich harmonisation, Schurmann suggests emotions ranging from shocked awe to comedy.' David Williams Daily Mail 'Gerard Schurmann we have known and admired as composer and conductor here in recent years, and this new work of his is a piece of superb technical skill and craftsmanship which fully deserved the prolonged ovation of the discerning audience. As a composer he knows what he wants to say and as a conductor he knows how to elicit this from the orchestral forces at his command. This was fully realized and the impact was brilliant. It fully deserved the encore.' The Irish Press 'The highlight of the Dublin Festival concert was surely the first performance of Six Studies of Francis Bacon by Gerard Schurmann, conducted by the composer. Our own Symphony Orchestra was honoured to have been chosen to give the work its first airing. Colourful and poetic, the music made a deep impression, and the obviously enamoured audience demanded an encore of one of the movements.' Judith Segal Dublin Evening Press 'Shrewdly observed, as audaciously conveyed in orchestral strokes as those of the painter's brush, the instrumental textures are varied, bizarre and poignant. The impression is of a lively imagination restlessly at work.' Kenneth Loveland The Times 'In Six Studies of Francis Bacon, Gerard Schurmann has produced a striking musical counterpart to the painter's work: his shapes, high-lighted colours, swift movement, violence and strange calm - all seem echoed in a remarkable score which should travel.' Felix Aprahamian The Sunday Times 'The quickly changing moods and blazing flash of colors are most persuasively balanced in this volatile and delicate collection, in which Schurmann's mastery of the orchestra is everywhere apparent. Maazel and the ensemble gave this work, and the Stravinsky Symphony in Three Movements, brilliant, crisply detailed performances.' The Akron Beacon Journal 'Not literal in the sense that Schurmann tried to imitate the paintings, they nevertheless were close enough so that there was no doubt of their intent. Splendidly coloristic, provocative in mood, the six - Figures in a Landscape, Popes, Isabel, Crucifixion, George and the Bicycle, and Self-Portrait - were carefully slewed to limn Bacon's surreal technique. There was controlled passion, intensity, and even humor (in "Bicycle") as evidenced in the paintings. Maazel & Co. gave the difficult work a ringingly bright performance, handling color, interest and excitement extremely well. Maazel in turn, was extremely pleased at the reception his work received, particularly that for the Schurmann work, for which the Thursday night crowd outdid itself, relatively speaking, in its appreciation.' Frank Hruby The Cleveland Press 'While slavish musical depictions of paintings run the risk of appearing stilted, Schurmann's collection makes its imprint through subtle and bold orchestral colors. There are delicate washes of sound, many created by marvelous use of percussion instruments, as well as torrential statements that suggest the painful expressionism of the subject matter, such as the cataclysmic "Popes" and driven "Crucifixion". There's also humor up Schurmann's sleeve in the fifth painting "George and the Bicycle" in which the speedy figures come to grief and police sirens come to the rescue. Maazel led the work with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1981, and his performance last night once again was crystalline in texture and powerful in impact.' Donald Rosenberg The Pittsburgh Press 'An adventurous week devoted to a leading figure - it has been Tippett, Lutoslawski, Carter in the past - the Royal Academy of Music offered it in the service of Gerard Schurmann who, by tradition, attended all the events...... Six Studies of Francis Bacon received a vigorous and skilful performance from the RAM Orchestra under John Georgiadis. Each movement of the set attempts to render in tones a particular Bacon canvas (Bacon, a friend of Schurmann's, painted him in return), and they all succeed rather well. The imaginative appeal of this work is like that of a harsher, latter-day Enigma Variations.' Paul Driver The Sunday Times

THE GARDENS OF EXILE 'Magnificent playing by the BSO and young cellist Peter Rejto helped the work, of which they gave last night the world premiere, score a huge success. In fact, in an ideal world, where such music got regular hearings, it might find popularity......Use of the orchestra was brilliant, particularly the masterly percussion effects, echoing Dr. Schurmann's childhood acquaintance with Javanese orchestras.' Ken Williams Bournemouth Evening Echo 'The Royal Academy of Music took advantage of a welcome visit to the UK during March by the distinguished British composer Gerard Schurmann, who now resides in California. Schurmann was in Britain for the first performances of his new Cello Concerto, but before that, the RAM hosted a Schurmann Festival which enabled audiences to hear some of this remarkably interesting composer's works of the last twenty years or so during a series of concerts which reaffirmed the growing belief that in Gerard Schurmann we encounter a composer of the first rank. ..........A week or two later came the world premiere of Schurmann's Cello Concerto "The Gardens of Exile", which was also broadcast. The soloist was Peter Rejto, in three performances with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Schurmann has created an extraordinarily fine and imaginative composition - lasting just about 30 minutes, and in one movement - which makes a profound impact: indeed, so sure is his touch, so original and distinctive his approach and musical character, that there is very little that one need comment upon to commend the piece, other than to make an urgent plea to the intelligent music-lover to lose no time in hearing the work should the opportunity arise. The most striking formal surprise is the increasing tension surrounding the long-delayed entry of the solo instrument: over seven minutes go by before it is finally heard and then, having as it were "grown" or evolved from the proemial slow orchestral music, it naturally and immediately assumes a quite dominant role, flowering and impressing itself more and more upon the entire fabric and texture of the music until we follow its every phrase, gesture and paragraph as though we were in the presence of a noble orator. The Gardens of Exile is indeed a serious and impressive composition. The composer was honoured with truly magnificent performances by Peter Rejto and the orchestra, and it is difficult to see how this work could have been better premiered; make no mistake, Gerard Schurmann has added significantly to the modern cello concerto repertoire. Let us hope this vital composer's forthcoming BBC concerts will provide an added spur to his admirable reputation.' Robert Matthew-Walker Musical Opinion

VARIANTS 'The Guildford Festival are to be congratulated this year for commissioning Variants from Gerard Schurmann. His new work is compact, ingenious and thoughtful and it should provide ideal fare for small orchestras.' Alan Blyth The Times 'The title signifies that the five sections are different aspects of a six-note chord and a series, rather than variations on a theme. The work has Mr. Schurmann's typical lyricism and his typical ability to make the characteristic shapes of our time into the sort of true music that speaks to the heart and senses.' Charles Acton The Irish Times 'Schurmann has enviable gifts as a composer: craftsmanship tempered by self-criticism; an ability (one feels) to produce on paper the music he envisages in his mind; a distinctive yet gimmick-free personality.' Stephen Walsh The Observer 'Tautly constructed, shapely in the proportions, disposition and contrast of its five component sections and scored for a Mozartian orchestra, it should prove a useful piece.' Felix Aprahamian The Sunday Times 'Schurmann deserves credit first of all for producing a thought sequence cast in five continuous movements, with the main weight concentrated in a searching Adagio. Tension is then relaxed in a livelier, orientally tinged variant upheld by a bold diatonic tune, before a return to the opening material. The craftsmanship is most telling in its economy and directness. There is no redundant note or instrument.' Joan Chissell The Times 'Cleverly constructed contemporary music scored for the classical chamber orchestra with skill and a keen ear for tonal effects. It is tough, sinewy and even brittle at times, with many remarkable sonorities.' Belfast Telegraph 'In last night's performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall Gerard Schurmann's Variants seemed a "tour de force" of orchestral sonority, as well as being an engaging and inventive display of different perspectives on its fundamental substance.' Paul Griffiths The Financial Times

PIANO CONCERTO 'Concert audiences will welcome Schurmann's crusading zeal, and, I hope, the flashing heavyweight bravura solo piano part so perfectly tailored to Mr. Ogdon's special accomplishments - there is plain, appealing melodic writing too, and delicate coruscating rapid decoration, also much to this pianist's taste. The Concerto's two extended movements contain much diversity of mood, closely interwoven. There are impressive textures and ideas in the second movement, often profitably developed. The rapid middle section here is brought off with real sparkle and flair.' William Mann The Times 'The Concerto falls into two main movements and is of imposing dimensions. From the open piano cadenza to the final presto Mr. Ogdon's fingers and pianistic stamina are fully exercised. The second movement begins with a rather ornate Adagio which leads to the Scherzo section of the Concerto, a clear-cut Presto in double rhythm. Mr. Schurmann has achieved clarity in the scoring throughout, nicely balancing the weight of the piano part against the orchestra in ensemble passages.' Felix Aprahamian The Sunday Times 'In particular the cadenza that opens the first movement and, uniquely, reappears towards the end, contains distinguished material.' Peter Stadlen The Daily Telegraph 'A Concerto in two movements that commands the utmost technical expertise. The composer explores the contrasts between the piano and orchestral timbres in a distinctive conflict of energy to generate great excitement.' Simon Collins The Spectator

PIERS PLOWMAN - Opera-Cantata in Two Acts 'Three Choirs Festival Felicity Lott (sop.), Sarah Walker (mezzo), Anthony Rolfe-Johnson (ten.), Norman Welsby (bar.) with the Three Choirs Festival Chorus and the RPO conducted by John Sanders in Gloucester Cathedral on August 22, 1980 A stirring two-act opera-cantata that deserves far-reaching appeal to choral societies. In a direct, modern, tonal idiom, clean, vivid orchestration supported gloriously rich chorales, sustained dramatic outbursts and soaring lyrical lines to which the soloists responded sensitively.' The Daily Telegraph 'It is most refreshing to hear a Three Choirs first performance of a choral work in a style independent of the influence of Walton and Howells and with a quality to make further hearing more likely than the majority emerging from the festivals of recent years. Such was Piers Plowman by Gerard Schurmann. He bases his own text on William Langland, and with its gentle allusions it repays considered attention in its own right. Musically a fresh voice is heard, one not afraid to sing singable tunes, not overloaded by heavy accompaniment. Much of the most grateful writing is allotted to the soloists and displayed lively dramatic sense and authority as the moral conflict (symbolized perhaps in the polytonality of some sections) was developed until resolved in the apotheosis. Some exciting choral passages, such as the vigorous jousting episode, a striking build-up of tension in the second act, and inventive use of tuned percussion, are further features of a piece that promises to be a valued addition to the repertoire.' The Guardian 'The most substantial item was the first performance of Gerard Schurmann's Piers Plowman. The music is colourful and tactfully written for the large choir. It provides much that is rewarding to sing and that must be the main function of new works written for Choral Festivals.' Financial Times 'Gerard Schurmann's Piers Plowman was the outstanding success. Such a plan anticipates writing with a strong descriptive sense and a flair for characterful contrast and this just about sums up Schurmann's powerful answer. The solo writing is lucid and lyrically felt, and the orchestral contribution tense, colourful and responsive to situation in a way that betokens a theatrically aligned mind. But it is in the choral passages that Schurmann is at his most expressive, and here he achieves something harmonically colourful, alternating between the rhetorical and the quietly beautiful, and evolving a complete musical canvas of all the emotions which motivate Langland's poem. Piers Plowman is a work of practicability and quick communication.' The Musical Times 'A brand new two-act Opera-Cantata Piers Plowman. It was entirely appropriate for the typical English choral society SATB forces, and yet suitably demanding on its professional soloists. Violent and dynamic, this powerful score is full of richness of coloration and construction. The music is highly atmospheric, at times magical and vitriolic, with the composer juxtaposing blocks of texture and sonority, integrating the soloists' often lyrical and attractive lines with forceful attack or ethereal halo of choirs.' Performance Magazine 'William Langland's text falls into two parts, each containing at its core a disputation. In the former, the issue is over man's earthly obligations; in the second, the pictorialized Crucifixion-Joust reflects the struggle for man's very survival and salvation in the face of the threat from Antichrist. Schurmann's piece is tersely conceived and boldly executed, with sharp transitions, curt phrases and graphic poetic images. Schurmann moulds his own vibrant language from the first moment when the harp paints onto the canvas the six-note "Piers-Salvation" motif, a sort of musical Jacob's ladder from which much derives.' Roderic Dunnett The Times 'As in many of his earlier works the composer reveals himself as a musical dramatist of tremendous inventive power. Who, I wonder, could forget his spine-chilling sound picture near the beginning of the work, or the frenetic duel and "the shedding of blood" which seem almost to take physical shape before our eyes. There is tenderness in "Love is Weal and Love is Woe" there are the dream-like sequences, the influence of plainchant when Conscience declares "All are equal in death", and the music of affirmation and resolve when Faith urges: "Follow me in the lands to espy him". It is a testimony to the composer's deft handling of the vast forces at his disposal that he rarely allows his often extrovert and percussive orchestration to obscure the vocal line. Altogether, Piers Plowman is a work of stunning virtuosity and dramatic power.' The Press Group

CHUENCH'I - Song Cyvle (high voice and orchestra) '... exquisitely conceived, ravishingly beautiful both in the vocal line and infinitely subtle orchestral accompaniment' The Times 'In these songs the vocal line explores the nuances of the Anglo-Chinese text with a minute subtlety of rhythm and cadence reminiscent of Benjamin Britten at his best, whilst the scoring shows tremendous invention. Sung by the Dutch soprano Ank Reinders it was an immensely moving experience.' Irish Times 'Gerard Schurmann's hauntingly beautiful Chuench'I where the composer's delicate and evocative tonal effects are stunningly realized through a discipline that is by no means difficult to appreciate. Charmingly and tellingly sung by Hazel Holt, with a touch at the end of sad resignation that told not only of the end of Spring, but also of a passing of a dear experience. This is certainly the best modern score that the Harrogate Festival will hear.' Ernest Bradbury The Yorkshire Post 'The composer has caught beautifully the delicate shadings of the poems in a score rich in colour and widely varied in texture; the writing for woodwind, harp and percussion is especially striking.' Alun Hoddinott The Western Mail 'Broadcast from the Harrogate Festival, I found Gerard Schurmann's Chuench'i most impressive, and it was beautifully sung by a soprano (Hazel Holt) whose voice had a full-throated contralto richness. The fine contrast between the expressively melismatic and mainly unserial vocal lines and the orchestral accompaniments, which were more obviously influenced by serial techniques, made a refreshingly undogmatic effect, an effect that was enhanced by the pithiness of forms that were always brought to a close by varied imaginative touches.' Edmund Rubbra The Listener

THE DOUBLE HEART - Cantata SATB 'In five main sections, the work takes its cue from Andrew Marvell's "Dialogue between the Soul and Body", and this duality is reflected in the way the voices tend to pair off, or build up from two-part motifs. The musical language is gratefully laid out for voices. It was sung with obvious enjoyment and assurance.' Nicholas Kenyon Daily Telegraph '.......came the astringency of Gerard Schurmann's The Double Heart, the first performance of a BBC commission. It sets with skill and feeling some thoughtfully compiled texts by Andrew Marvell in a choral idiom.' Felix Aprahamian The Sunday Times 'Schurmann's new piece The Double Heart is a 20-minute setting of words by Marvell, beginning and ending with extracts from Dialogue of the Soul and Body. It was both haunting and sensuous, particularly in the first of its five sections and in passages for solo voices later.' Paul Griffiths Financial Times

DUO FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO 'Last night at the Library of Congress, two virtuoso musicians, violinist Earl Carlyss and pianist Ann Schein captivated the listeners. The undisputed highlight of the exceptional program was the first performance of Schurmann's Duo for Violin and Piano, commissioned by the duo. Carlyss, a member of the Juilliard Quartet since 1966, and Schein who champions twentieth century composers, played this provocative, muscular music with impressive technical expertise and artistic fervor. Divided into five related movements, Schurmann's work is cyclic, derived from the theatrical elements of 17th Century Italian poetry.' J. Kenneth Townsend The Washington Post

QUARTET NR. 1 FOR PIANO AND STRINGS 'So involved and involving, so carefully honed was the playing of the new work that it sounded as if it had been in the Quartet's repertoire for years. It is an impressive piece which ought to overcome the timidity of concert-promoters and audiences by reason of its lucidity, compelling dramatic force and, above all, its musicality.' Michael Kennedy The Daily Telegraph 'Schurmann's meticulously crafted, darkly elegiac piece, is possibly the first viable addition to the repertory since Copland's 1950 Quartet.' The Los Angeles Times