Albéniz : Oeuvres pour piano

Description

Albéniz composed seven piano sonatas in the 1880s, but only Nos. 3, 4, and 5 have come down to us complete. Like much of his work, they are now better known in guitar transcriptions—at least for Nos. 3 and 5—but the original piano versions display the same overflowing imagination and Romantic temperament as his masterpiece, Iberia, while adhering to a more classical form. Their mastery of harmony, orchestration, and voice leading is impeccable, but it is the lyrical breadth and often playful harmonic touches that secure them a place on the fringes of the repertoire. A gifted pianist, Albéniz was a recognized interpreter of 18th-century music—not only Bach and Scarlatti, but also Handel, Couperin, and Rameau—at a time when such music was often dismissed as dry, academic, or old-fashioned. The Suites anciennes are an early example of musical neoclassicism, comprising suites of gavottes, minuets, sarabandes, and chaconnes, in homage to the Baroque era. However, the minuets, rondos, and finely wrought counterpoint of the three sonatas also belong to an earlier period. The Fourth is a true gem, establishing Albéniz as the greatest Spanish composer of keyboard sonatas since Antonio Soler, but the others equal it in mastery and elegance. Sebastian Stanley is a British pianist specializing in Spanish piano music, known for his acclaimed recordings of Granados's Danzas Españolas and Goyescas. This is his first album on Brilliant Classics, enriched by liner notes written by Walter A. Clark, a leading scholar of Spanish piano music.