Translate
ALBÉNIZ, I.: Piano Music, Vol. 1 - Iberia / Suites Españolas Nos. 1 and 2 (González)
Albéniz’s output as a composer was vast, embracing songs, operas, symphonic rhapsodies, concertos and choral music, but it was through his own instrument, the piano, that he most decisively put the musical heritage of Spain on the international map. Ranging from pleasantly atmospheric salon pieces to blisteringly virtuosic tone poems, his piano works amount to a kind of biography of his native land, drawing on the styles and spirit of every region with incomparable vividness and skill.
Tracklist
|  | 1 | I. Evocacion | 06:26 |
| | 2 | II. El Puerto | 04:37 |
| | 3 | III. Fête-Dieu à Seville | 09:32 |
| | 4 | I. Rondena | 07:57 |
| | 5 | II. Almeria | 10:31 |
| | 6 | III. Triana | 05:35 |
| | 7 | I. El Albaicín | 07:55 |
| | 8 | II. El Polo | 07:29 |
| | 9 | III. Lavapiés | 07:04 |
| | 1 | I. Malaga | 05:32 |
| | 2 | II. Jerez | 11:23 |
| | 3 | III. Eritaña | 06:15 |
| | 4 | No. 1. Granada (Serenata) | 05:15 |
| | 5 | No. 2. Cataluna (Corranda) | 04:55 |
| | 6 | No. 3. Sevilla (Sevillanas) | 04:37 |
| | 7 | No. 4. Cadiz (Saeta) | 04:52 |
| | 8 | No. 5. Asturias (Leyenda) | 07:06 |
| | 9 | No. 6. Aragon (Fantasia) | 05:06 |
| | 10 | No. 7. Castilla (Seguidillas) | 03:14 |
| | 11 | No. 8. Cuba (Capricho) | 05:22 |
| | 12 | No. 1. Zaragoza | 03:58 |
| | 13 | No. 2. Sevilla | 06:45 |
Holder of the Premio Nacional de Música (1991), the Premio Nacional del Disco (1980), the Medalla Albéniz (2009), and the Premio Larios a la Interpretación Musical (Fundación CEOE, 2001), pianist Guillermo González has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and with leading orchestras across Spain.
He has given recitals in Australia, China, Russia and America in venues including the Concertgebow, the Palais de la Musique de Strasbourg, the Teatro Real and the Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid.
González is a member of the Royal Academies of Fine Arts in Tenerife, Granada and Cádiz, and is a professor of the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Malaga and Madrid. He is also president and Gold Medal holder of the Concurso Internacional de Piano Premio Jaén and has received many honours in his home country. His 1998 urtext edition of Albéniz’s suite Iberia has become a work of reference, and he has recently collaborated and directed a recording of the complete piano works of Albéniz.
A pianist and composer, the Spanish musician Albéniz was a leading figure in the creation of a national style of composition in Spain. Although he wrote operas (including a King Arthur to English words), songs and orchestral music, he is best known for his piano music, some of which has been arranged by others for orchestra.
Piano Music
Albéniz’s music for piano includes Iberia (four books), two Suites españolas, 12 piezas características and Recuerdos de viaje (‘Travel Memories’). Orchestral arrangements include pieces from the Suite Iberia, orchestrated by Arbós. Other arrangements have been for guitar, an instrument to which much of the music of Albéniz is well suited.
