Albéniz: Iberia, book 2

Disillusioned after the debacle surrounding a planned opera trilogy, the Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz devoted the last years of his life to his magnum opus entitled “Iberia”. In just over two years, a gravely ill Albéniz wrote the 12 nouvelles ‘impressions’, as he called them, alternating between Paris and Nice. In these pieces he seems to have produced an accurate sketch of Spain around the turn of the century. Because of the flamenco elements and the titles of the pieces, Andalusia is often called the source of

inspiration for the cycle, but the emerging Impressionism of Paris also seems to have left its mark on the style, not to mention Lisztian virtuosity. The real quality of Iberia, however, lies in the originality with which Albéniz was able to blend these elements and the remarkable power of imagination he demonstrated in the process.

Yoram Ish-Hurwitz is a Dutch pianist of Israeli origin. He began his studies with Danièle Dechenne and Jan Wijn at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. In 1993 he was the first Dutch pianist to graduate from the Juilliard School in New York with the Hungarian pianist György Sándor. In 1988 he won the second prize at the Eduard Flipse Piano Competition in Rotterdam. Three years later he was awarded the Jacques Vonk Prize by a unanimous international jury. Since then he has frequently performed in The Netherlands, including many times in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His discography includes works by Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Modest Mussorgsky, Sergei Prokofiev and the complete 'Années de Pèlerinage' by Franz Liszt.