Presto Recording of the Week
1st October 2021

Presto Recordings of the Year
Winner 2021

Basque National Orchestra, Robert Trevino

Loeffler: La Mort de Tintagiles
Ruggles: Evocations
Hanson, H: Before the Dawn, Op. 17
Cowell, H: Variations for Orchestra

All four American composers on this new album by the Basque National Orchestra and conductor Robert Trevino wrote music that was known, played and esteemed during their lifetimes, but none of them ever had a huge 'hit': the pieces here are likely familiar only to musical scholars. Yet while it is uncommon enough to find Charles Martin Loeffler, Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles and Howard Hanson sharing the same album, the conductor Robert Trevino has taken his exploration still further, into the recesses of their repertory – complete with a Hanson piece, Before the Dawn, that has had to wait a century for this, its premiere recording. Robert Trevino’s debut album with the Basque National Orchestra on Ondine featured orchestral works by Maurice Ravel and has received excellent reviews in music media around the world.

"In every way, this disc is a triumph." - Fanfare, Jan/Feb 2022

"Trevino has put together a cleverly varied programme of little-known American orchestral works...Urgently recommended." Gramophone Magazine, December 2021.

"Trevino hails this quartet of composers as part of the rich tapestry of diversity that represents the idea of America, and under his baton the Basque National Orchestra makes a gripping, convincing case for all four works." - Presto Classical, 1st October 2021.