Granados Enrique, "Spanish Dance #5"

Granados' Spanish Dance # 5 was the almost unavoidable piece entering the Spanish classical list of masterclasses presented on mangore.com. When you are in conservatory pursuing your degree, this piece is presented along with Albéniz and Tarrega's masterworks. Once again, we have a Spaniard pianist so influenced by the guitar that it is hard to believe that the piece was not originally written for the guitar. Some of the section are simply unthinkable when you think of another instrument than the guitars. Fantastic harmonics and sweet sections are a proof of this. The accompanying bass notes of the beginning sound almost surrealistic and impressionistic when played on the guitar.

Enric Granados (1867 - 1916) -Enric is Catalonian for Enrique, Henry- was born in Lerida, the son of a Cuban military man. Studied piano in
Spain from an early age and traveled to France to broaden his musical
and cultural horizons. France was the Mecca for most artists at the turn
of the 19th Century. He founded a prestigious musical academy which was
inherited by one of his most talented students,  Frank Marshall, when
both Enric and his wife Amparo died when the Sussex, the ship that they
were on crossing the English Channel was torpedoed by German submarines.