Composed 1907-8 / Arrangement publ. 2001; 5 minutes

One of the great works of Spanish composition, the four volumes of Iberia bring together all the genius and virtuoso craft of the Spanish composer and pianist Isaac Albéniz.  Each piece in the collection, subtitled Twelve New Impressions, evokes an aspect of Spain, Andalusia in particular.  They are the last works that Albéniz completed before his death at the age of 49.  He wrote Iberia not in Spain but in France; French music, impressionism and craft color its pages.  Composed in Paris and Nice between 1905 and 1908, the collection is a remarkable synthesis of the compositional craft of Paris, the keyboard virtuosity and often hair-raising technical demands of Franz Liszt and Spanish (notably Andalusian) musical idiom.  Both Albéniz and his composer-colleague Enrique Granados, gave two-piano and duet concerts together in Paris.  In his own compositions, Granados drew extensively from his Catalan heritage and folk song, with the technically challenging, two-volume Goyescas crowning his works for piano.  His arrangement of the brilliant Triana, the closing piece of Book 2 of Albéniz’s Iberia, is his only work for two pianos and was doubtless written for the two virtuoso pianists to play together.  The title refers to what was the Roma district of Seville in Albéniz’s day.

Isaac Albéniz - drawing by Ramon Casas.