Granados's Allegro de concierto won first prize in a 1903 composition competition at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid, where Manuel de Falla, another notable Spanish composer, received an honorable mention.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Granados's Goyescas suite for solo piano was inspired by the art and times of Francisco de Goya, a painter whom Granados considered 'the representative genius of Spain'.
Composer Biography
Enrique Granados, the composer, was born in Lleida, Catalonia, but did not sympathize with the separatist movement in that region, holding a strong patriotic sentiment for the Spanish crown.
Cultural Impact
The Goyescas piano suite served as the musical and thematic basis for an opera of the same name, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1916.
Historical Context
Granados's interest in Goya's art developed during a time when Spain was redefining its national identity after the disastrous 1898 war with the United States, which ended its four-hundred-year global empire.
Composer Biography
Tragically, Granados and his wife drowned when their ship, the Sussex, was torpedoed by a German U-Boat while returning to Spain from England.
Performer Biography
Garrick Ohlsson, the pianist on this recording, gained worldwide recognition after winning the Gold Medal at the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw.
