SPANISH PIANOFORTE MUSIC
Played by NIEDZIELSKI

Among Spanish composers of our time de Falla has had the best chance of staking out a claim for himself in the affections of British listeners; parts of his opera La Vida breve (Life is short), the ballets, El Amor Brnjo (Love the Magician) and The Three-cornered Hat, can now safely call themselves popular hero. Many of his pianoforte pieces, too, are happily known to us, and such sensitive orchestral music as Nights in the Garden of Spain. But success did not come to him soon nor easily, and it was not until 1905, his thirtieth year, that his own country recognized his gifts in any tangible way. They awarded him a prize for La Vida breve, though even after that, it had to wait ten years more for its first Spanish performance. Now, of course, lie is looked up to at home, as abroad, as one of the most illustrious musicians Spain has given to the world.