Julian Bream | Córdoba | Isaac Albéniz

“The final piece on this side is Córdoba Opus 232 No. 4 from Cantos de España. This pearl of musical impressionism was much admired by Claude Debussy and in it Albéniz has eschewed his earlier, more formal compositional method in favour of a freer, more thorough-composed conception. It was this freedom, and the subsequent control of it that released his musical ideas and energies, so that he could compose at the end of his life the remarkable Iberia - a final tribute to his beloved country and a superb masterpiece of inventive piano writing. It was the audacious brilliance of this music that was subsequently to influence the piano music of both Debussy and Ravel, and I daresay of Rachmaninoff as well.“ (J. Bream 1982)