Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz (Camprodon, May 29th, 1860 – Cambo-les-Bains, May 18th, 1909)

Isaac was a Spanish pianist and composer. Trained at the Madrid Conservatory, he began his career as a concert piano player at a very young age, which led him to various European and American countries, but in 1874 he resumed his composition studies at the Leipzig Conservatory, and later continued them in Brussels, until in 1878 he was able to become a pupil of Liszt, who followed in Rome and Budapest. He soon resumed his brilliant concert activity, at the same time cultivating composition and also dedicating himself to teaching. In 1893 he settled in Paris, coming into contact with the local musical environment (D'Indy, Fauré, Dukas, Debussy): here he wrote his best works of him, before a heart defect led him to premature death. Albéniz is rightly considered the initiator of the modern Spanish music school. Like the "Five" in Russia, and the romantic composers of the Slavic and Scandinavian countries, he understood that it was necessary to rebel against the internationalism of the Italian brand, which still dominated in nineteenth-century Spain, in order to be able to say a new and personal word in music. Thus he was among the very first to consciously turn to popular heritage, to listen to its rhythms and inflections and to introduce them into his production, which consequently acquires a very particular color and a well-defined meaning in the context of Iberian culture. If in the theatrical production Albéniz broke the pre-eminence of Italian taste, in the instrumental one he was able to escape from the conventionality of the parlor taste, which was then characteristic in Spain especially in chamber music: and his most profitable work was perhaps carried out precisely in the field of music from room, especially piano, where he knew how to put his brilliant technique at the service of a need for expression that knew how to take into account specifically national cultural values. He remains known essentially as a composer for the piano (but he also wrote numerous works and not a little vocal music): and yet, in the small orchestral production it is not difficult to observe those seeds of novelty that are typical for his position within Iberian music. of the end of the century. XIX.

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Iberia

Originally composed for piano, this twelve-part suite is now well known also in the orchestration curated after the composer's death by his friend Enrique Fernandez Arbos, or in that of another Spanish composer, Carlos Surinach. They are rightly the best known and most representative pieces of Albéniz: there is a savory sense of color in them, there is a reference to Spanish folklore that results in an admirable play of rhythms, there is a sincere evocation of Iberian landscapes and dances which truly make him Albéniz's masterpiece, fully justifying his reputation as the initiator of the Spanish national school.

Evocación 00:00

El puerto 06:24

Fête-dieu à Seville 10:51

Rondeña 20:15

Almería 27:19

Triana 37:22

El Albaicín 42:54

El Polo 50:33

Lavapiés 57:45

Málaga 01:04:44

Jerez 01:10:23

Eritaña 01:21:55

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Catalonia

Popular suite - A nearly forgotten composition by the Spanish musician, it is also one of his very few originally written for orchestra. It is a festive page, a little external, with a brilliant orchestration but at times also quite plethoric. As a whole it can be considered as a symphonic poem in three parts, where the thematic material denotes popular provenance in many places.

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Cantos de España (Op. 232)

Cantos de España is one of the most reproduced compositions by Albéniz. Three of his works (Prelude, Oriental and Bajo la palmera) were first published and then in 1898 Seguidillas and Córdoba joined them. Like much of Albéniz's work, the Cantos de España evoke Spanish dances or places through melodies and rhythms typical of national dance, especially Andalusian. Among these five works it is worth highlighting the Prelude (better known by the name given to it in the Spanish Suite op. 47, Asturias), which has the air of Andalusian cantes and is undoubtedly the most famous work by Albéniz. Its central part, the song, is admirable for its beauty and its changes of rhythm. The Seguidillas were also added to the Spanish Suite with the name of Castilla. Cantos de España have a version for guitar and other instruments as well.

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Suite Spagnola

The Spanish Suite Op. 47 by the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz is mainly composed of works written in 1886 which were grouped in 1887, in honor of the Queen of Spain. Like many of Albéniz's piano works, these pieces are paintings from different regions and music from Spain. This work is part of the nationalist current linked to Romanticism. Albéniz was then under the influence of Felipe Pedrell, who separated him from aesthetic European parlor music and attracted him to nationalism, in this case Spanish. But, on the other hand, his is a nationalism passed through the sieve of refinement and stylization.

The original titles of the collection are four: Granada, Catalonia, Seville and Cuba. The other pieces, Cadiz, Asturias, Aragon and Castile, were published in successive editions and often with different titles. The publisher Hofmeister published the eight titles of the Spanish Suite in 1912, after the death of Albéniz. He did so by taking other pieces for the remaining four titles, as those pieces don't very accurately reflect the geographic region they refer to. A very clear case is that of Asturias (Leyenda), whose Andalusian flamenco rhythms have little to do with the music of the Atlantic region of Asturias. Op. 47, the number assigned by Hofmeister, is not linked to any kind of chronological order in Albéniz's work, in which the opus numbers were randomly given by the publishers or by Albéniz himself. Some works also appear in more than one collection. In the works that make up the Spanish Suite, the first title refers to the region they represent and the subtitle in brackets indicates the musical form of the piece or the dance of the region portrayed. The subtitles of the works are as follows: Granada, serenade; Catalonia, curranda; Seville, Sevillian; Cadiz, saeta; Asturias, legend; Aragon, fantasy; Castilla, Seguidillas and Cuba, at night. The nocturne has a habanera style (Cuba was part of Spain until 1898). The Aragon pattern is shaped like a jack. Asturias (Legend) and Cadiz (Saeta) are not very precise about the relationship between the opera and the region. Despite the artificial character of the Spanish Suite op.47, over time it has become one of Albéniz's most performed and well-known piano works by both pianists and the public.

1. Granada (00:00)

2. Katalonien (5:02)

3. Sevilla (7:38)

4. Cadiz (12:19)

5. Asturien (16:53)

6. Aragon (22:52)

7. Kastilien (27:17)

8. Kuba (30:10)