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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. Two of the works were premiered by the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, and the Cello Concerto by the Basque National Orchestra on its 30th anniversary, and all by the same soloists. 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.
Gabriel Erkoreka (*1969)