It is difficult to classify composer
Gerard Schurmann
as to nationality. He was born in Dutch colonial Java in 1924 to Dutch and Hungarian parents (his mother studied with
Bartók
as a pianist). Perhaps in the layered textures of his music, one can detect a hint of Indonesian gamelan music.
Schurmann
was trained mostly in Britain. He also wrote Hollywood film scores, lived for some years in Los Angeles, and died there in 2020, remaining active until the end of his very long life. The film music is sampled on this
Chandos
release with an excerpt from the music for the thriller
The Man in the Sky
, but the biggest influences in his music were British, and if one is curious about the possible sound of a composer who followed
Elgar
to the edge of tonality, check
out; this album is a fair tribute. His music is essentially lush and neo-Romantic, qualities that didn't serve his reputation well during the modernist tyranny. Sample the
Piano Concerto
, which is the most substantial work here and perhaps the strongest. It was written for pianist
John Ogdon
and gets a muscular performance here from
Xiayin Wang
in its unusual opening cadenza. The lushness is offset by subtle shifts in orchestral color and by passages in which tension rises as the tonal center disappears but is then recovered.
's music will probably be unknown to most listeners, and this spaciously recorded album (from the MediaCity studios in the U.K.) offers a good introduction. It made classical best-seller lists in the late summer of 2024. ~ James Manheim