Iberia - Al Albaicín

El Albaicín (Iberia, Book 3, 1907)

El Albaicín, named after the old gypsy quarter in Granada, is one of the most poetic of all Albéniz’s evocations of Andalusia. It reminded Debussy “of those Spanish evenings filled with the perfume of carnations and the alcohol fumes of aguardiente.” A sultry nocturnal scene in B flat minor, it is based on two themes, each representing a basic element of flamenco music - a dance rhythm heard as though on a distant guitar that gets nearer and more animated and, after a short pause, an expressive cante jondo melody introduced in octaves in the Dorian mode. The two are developed in alternation and, not without some Lisztian bravura, ever more passionately. The great inspiration of the piece, however, is not so much its central climax as an epilogue that reintroduces the cante jondo in a serene B flat major and sustains the tranquillity until a suddenly violent but still B flat major ending.