The piano did not figure as importantly in Falla's career as may be expected of the man who succeeded Albéniz and Granados as Spain's most prominent composer. Yet his Obras Españolas mark the first tentative flowering of Falla's own voice and were significantly dedicated to Albéniz. Strictly speaking, only three of these pieces are Spanish; the second item, "Cubana," is a colonial import. The first movement, "Aragonesa," is strongly indebted to Albéniz, although Falla's textures are generally less dense. This is nevertheless a glittering showpiece based on dance rhythms of Spain's Aragon region. Like each of its companions, it ends pianissimo. "Cubana" is quieter and smokier, but not substantially slower. "Montanesa" provides the suite's slow movement, a dreamy Spanish barcarolle with a brief, extroverted middle section. "Andaluza" takes listeners to the home office of flamenco music, incorporating buleria and zapateado rhythms for a heel-stomping finale until, that is, the final pianissimo. These pieces lack the nervous shimmer of Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain and Fantasía Baetica, but they are well-wrought examples of Spanish nationalism that could almost pass as a fifth book of Albéniz' Ibéria.

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