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ASTURIAS:
Isaac
Albéniz
Isaac Albéniz 1860-1909
Isaac Albéniz
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Nationalism
is the European movement that saw Enrique Granados, Manuel de Falla and
Isaac Albéniz as its leading Iberian (Spanish) representatives.
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was 34 years old when Albéniz was
born. Tolstoi, the movies, Freud, Gandhi and the Vatican Council I were
also contemporaries. His work was written for piano. Being Albéniz
such a Spaniard, the guitar simply seems to be the instrument he first
had in mind when composing.

He was born in Camprodon a small town
just a few miles South of the French Border at the feet of the imposing
Pyrenees mountains.
His music is also impregnated with
some South American sounds due to the fact that when he was still a young
boy, he traveled and lived in several South American countries such as
Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil and Cuba. Between 1905 and 1908 he composes
his greatest work: The Suite Iberia. Still considered the greatest
Spanish contribution to the piano repertoire and, involuntarily, one of
the greatest guitar collections. There is not a single guitarist in the
world who does not incorporate an Albéniz piece to his repertoire. |