Isaac Albéniz composed nearly 250 published works, mostly for the piano, during his three decades or so of active professional life before his untimely death at age 49, but today he is remembered almost exclusively as the composer of the famous Iberia Suite (1905-1909). Aside from the occasional concert test-drive of one odd individual salon miniature or another, one might go many seasons without hearing any Albéniz music other than that grand set of 12 pieces. Still, there is Spanish treasure to be found within the piano scores aside from Iberia, and some of the best of it is contained in the Doce piezas características for piano, Op. 92 (B 29), otherwise known as the 12 Character Pieces. The collection was composed in 1888 and 1889 and released to the public at the same time by Albéniz's usual publisher, Madrid's Antonio Romero.

The 12 Character Pieces are just that: 12 short or shortish works of light piano entertainment, dance-oriented for the most part and filled with easygoing, syrupy tunes and a certain amount of transcendental technicality (Albéniz was, after all, much influenced by Liszt throughout the 1880s). Contrary to what we might normally assume about Albéniz's music, these pieces are not necessarily specifically Spanish in nature—certainly the gavotte, minuet, barcarolle, polka, waltz, polonaise, and mazurka dance forms, each of which is represented in Op. 92, have nothing innately to do with Andalusia or Spain in general.

The Doce piezas características are: Gavotte, Minuetto ("A Sylvia"), Barcarola ("Cielo sin nubes"), "Plegaria," "Conchita" (Polka), "Pilar" (waltz), "Zambra," Pavana, Polonesa, Mazurka, Staccata (Capricho), and "Torre Bermeja" (Serenata).

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.