The seven Recuerdos de viaje, Op. 71 (B 18) of Isaac Albéniz were written in 1886 and 1887, shortly after the composer and his young family moved to Madrid. The composer's life during the mid-1880s included a series of promising professional ups and heartbreaking private downs. In January 1886 he gave a now-famous recital at the salon of his publisher Antonio Romero, a recital that more than any other single performance launched his career as a pianist-composer of national and international note, but just three months later his infant daughter Blanca died. The event was made all the more bitter by the fact that Albéniz had named the child in honor of his deceased sister, who had perished by her own hand some time before. Albéniz soon learned, however, that the first biography of him had appeared in print (he was still just 25), and his spirits were lifted somewhat. The Recuerdos de viaje (Travel Reminiscences) in no way capture the swells and collapses of these tumultuous months; they are, instead, seven individual miniatures in a light but passion-filled vein, meant entirely for salon entertainment and virtuoso display purposes.

The seven Recuerdos de viaje are: "En el mar" (Barcarola) (also published separately in London, ca. 1892, as "On the Water"), "Leyenda" (Barcarola), "Alborada," "En la Alhambra," "Puerta de tierra (Bolero)" (also published separately in London as "Andalucía") (Bolero), "Rumores de la caleta" (Malagueña), and "En la playa." The Malagueña (No. 6, "Murmurs of the Cove"), with its guitar-like figurations and standard Spanish cross rhythms (three against two, or, more properly, 3/4 time against 6/8), is the best known of the lot.

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