Violin Concerto (1978)

This is beautiful music, beguilingly scored and continuosly inventive.

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...

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.

What is most striking... is the vivid and delicate command of orchestral colour, and the craftsmanship of the writing.

Schurmann's orchestration is dazzling - a combination of French fastidiousness and American boldness.

I love it violinistically because it is singing in character.

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 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.