12032 – Triana

From Iberia Book 2

Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909)

Arranged by Roger Harvey for 10 trombones

Difficulty: Hard

Price: £32.50

Programme notes:

Albeniz was considered in his childhood to be as great a prodigy as Mozart. His expertise as a pianist from a very young age certainly supports this claim. As a composer, though, his last group of works, Iberia, for solo piano, crowns his large output. He had taken up the idea of writing 'nationalist' music based on Spanish folk idioms many years before but it was only with this last set, after dabbling with various other styles, that he felt that he had become a serious composer of Spanish music. The set consists of 4 books of 3 pieces. The subtitle calls them ‘twelve new impressions' and they are pieces of considerable technical difficulty and sophistication.

Performance notes:

Pay special attention to balance and texture at all times. Much of the music needs to be very neat and tidy but the bigger tutti passages, such as at letter K, can be played with flamboyance.