 Albéniz: Iberia Isaac Albeniz' Iberia, subtitled Twelve New Impressions, is one of the greatest masterpieces for the piano of all time. A suite of extraordinary virtuosity and imagination depicting popular scenes and landscapes of his native Spain, it was the composer's final work for piano. He completed it in 1908, and by the Spring of 1909, he had died of chronic kidney disease. This performance will mark the 100th anniversary of his passing. It will also pay homage to the extraordinary Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha, who recorded the work with unsurpassable mastery, and whose last international masterclass took place in Auer Hall in the summer of 2005. De Larrocha passed away on September 25 this year. Albéniz, who was of Catalan birth, escaped the provincialism of other Spanish musicians of his time, travelling widely since his early youth, and even spending time in the United States, where he was forced to become a dockworker in New York to support himself. Like his compatriot and fellow composer Granados, and at the behest of the "father of modern Spanish music" Felipe Pedrell, he abandoned the prevalent salon style of piano writing in search of an ambitious and virtuosic exploration of indigenous elements of Spanish music, principally that of the south of Spain. His music was a model for the innovative Spanish, North-American and Latin American composers who followed him. Albeniz defies categorization. The music is neither completely "Impressionistic," Expressionistic, or even Romantic, but all three. Perhaps Debussy was inspired by Albéniz in this respect, as his efforts a decade later in his Douze etudes were also a departure from the expected, and as real and sharply etched as can be. It is interesting to note that another French master, far removed in time from either Debussy or Albeniz called Iberia the greatest work for piano of the 20th century. This was Olivier Messiaen, who probably resonated with the overpowering ecstasy of the music.
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