Albeniz, I.: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 4

Featuring

Miguel Baselga
Isaac Albéniz

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Critical Reception

Olivier Messiaen considered Albéniz's Iberia "the marvel of the piano" and believed it held perhaps the brightest place among the greatest piano works.

Performer Biography

Miguel Baselga completed his musical training in Belgium at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Lieja, where he won the First Prize for piano in 1985.

Interpretation

Pianist Miguel Baselga aims for scrupulous respect for the composer, playing only what Albéniz wrote, without adding or subtracting anything.

Performer Biography

Miguel Baselga, the pianist on this recording, was born in Luxembourg in October 1966 and began playing piano at age six.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Albéniz himself described many of his early pieces as 'little scraps' before developing a personal style that absorbed folk materials into a new expressive idiom.

Cultural Impact

Albéniz's Iberia was a decisive influence on Claude Debussy, who spent long hours obsessively playing it, anticipating his own impressions by several years.

Compositional Technique

Albéniz's mature style synthesized Germanic repertoire (Chopin, Liszt, Schumann) with French post-romantic techniques (d'Indy, Chausson, Fauré) and moved towards Impressionism.