Six Studies of Francis Bacon (1968)

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.

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.

Here Schurmann emerges as a composer able to convey fluently a personal response and emotional reactions in a sharply contemporary but perceptively communicative idiom. All the range of Bacon’s pictures — from the grotesque to the comedy of situation — is conveyed in both outline and depth, and in doing this the composer has added his own extra dimension of observation. Texturally, it is music of high sensitivity; harmonically, it is richly colored.

In Six Studies of Francis Bacon... 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.

The highlight of the Dublin Festival concert was surely the first performance of Six Studies of Francis Bacon by Gerard Schurmann.... Colourful and poetic, the music made a deep impression, and the obviously enamoured audience demanded an encore of one of the movements.

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.

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.

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.