Isaac Albéniz

Born in the town of Camprodon in northern Spain, Isaac Albeniz began his musical career at the age or four as a child prodigy pianist – performing internationally before he reached the age of 15. His talent attracted royal patronage; Albéniz attended conservatories in Leipzig and Brussels, and may have studied briefly with Liszt, with whose playing Albéníz's own solo performances were often compared. As a composer, he found his voice after 1883 under the tuition of the Spanish composer Felipe Pedrell, and although Albéniz continued to tour as a piano virtuoso (working for extended periods in Madrid, London and Paris) his own music drew more and more deeply on the musical traditions and folklore of Spain, in particular its dance rhythms and the cante jondo of Andalusia. His works include salon music (often in a Spanish idiom), zarzuelas and songs, but he remains best-known for Iberia (1905-09), a collection of twelve solo piano works that combine virtuoso romantic technique and an intense (but wholly original) flavour of Spanish folk music. Albéníz's early death meant that he never played Iberia in public, but it is now regarded as one of the defining works of Spain's 20th-century musical revival – and although Albéniz never wrote for guitar, his piano miniatures are often performed in guitar transcriptions.