It's no coincidence that a great composer and master of orchestration such as Ravel was an admirer of the music of a young Basque student in Paris. Meanwhile, his works proved Francisco Escudero to be one of the great composers of the 20th century, and a worthy successor to Ravel, himself a descendant of the Basque country.

Escudero adopted many of the stylistic and compositional techniques of that century, creating works marked by transcendent unity and the aspiration to spiritual perfection, all imbued with the colorful emotions of his homeland.

Francisco Escudero was born in San Sebastiàn on August 13, 1912. He showed an early talent for music and studied at the San Sebastiàn Conservatory. He continued his composition studies in Madrid, before receiving scholarships from the Province of Guipuzcoa and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, which enabled him to study composition with Paul Dukas and Paul le Flem in Paris, and conducting with Albert Wolff in Munich. As one of the most important composers in the Basque country and Spain, Francisco Escudero has influenced many young composers in his region.

This recording features his most important orchestral works on two CDs. In addition to the well-known poem “Le rêve d'un danseur”, and the virtuoso Cello Concerto, the first CD also contains the Basque Concerto for piano and orchestra, which easily compares with Ravel's Basque Concerto for piano.