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• CD Ref.: ODE 1442-2 | EAN/UPC: 0761195144220
• Ondine Records

Award-winning composer Gabriel Erkoreka (b. 1969) is one of the leading composers of contemporary music from the Iberian Peninsula. This new album by the Basque National Orchestra conducted by Juanjo Mena is dedicated to his orchestral works. Erkoreka studied composition with Michael Finnissy at the Royal Academy of Music in London and after graduating, his works have been performed in important festivals across the globe. In 2021 Gabriel Erkoreka received the National Music Award given by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

Erkoreka’s music, alongside references to folk music and nature, shows a genuine preference for dramatic structures with an extreme use of dynamics and registers that are condensed into a language of great timbral richness and musicality. This album the Basque National Orchestra offers first recordings of three important orchestral works by Erkoreka, including his recent Piano Concerto ‘Piscis’. This last concerto and Tres Sonetos de Michelangelo were premiered by pianist Alfonso Gómez and countertenor Carlos Mena respectively, together with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, and the Cello Concerto ‘Ekaitza’ by Asier Polo and the Basque National Orchestra on its 30th anniversary. All these works are included in this album with the same soloists as in their premiere. Given that the first compositions in Gabriel Erkoreka’s catalogue date from the early 1990s, it is possible to conclude that this recording gathers mature works that certify an already consolidated style.

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Tracklist

GABRIEL ERKOREKA (1969-)

Cello Concerto ‘Ekaitza’ (2012) [24:19]
1) I. [8:04]
2) II. [10:28]
3) III. [5:46]
Asier Polo, cello

Tres Sonetos de Michelangelo (2009) [20:40]
4)  I. Sonetto XVIII [5:03]
5)  II. Interludio primo [1:48]
6)  III. Sonetto XI [4:10]
7)  IV. Interludio secondo [3:16]
8)  V. Sonetto XXVII [6:21]
Carlos Mena, countertenor
François Cardey & Núria Sanromà, cornetti

Piano Concerto ‘Piscis’ (2021–22) [26:00]
9)  I. [9:15]
10)  II. [8:26]
11)  III. [8:17]
Alfonso Gómez, piano

Juanjo Mena, conductor
Euskadiko Orkestra – Basque National Orchestra

Reseñas

The Strad

“Its title means ‘tempest’ in Basque, and there’s a lot of turmoil within the music, which soloist Asier Polo (who gave the piece’s 2012 premiere) dispatches with Rostropovich-like muscularity and assertiveness. He’s very much a protagonist delivering a soliloquy, imbuing his reading with an intense sense of storytelling and breathtaking technical prowess. Most gratifyingly, Polo proves a perceptive guide through Erkoreka’s rhapsodic, free-form flow of ideas (…)” – David Kettle. Read review