Classical Music | Cello Music

Manuel de Falla

Suite Populaire Espagnole  Play

Wendy Law Cello
Irina Nuzova Piano

Recorded on 06/22/2005, uploaded on 02/18/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Suite Popular Española               Manuel de Falla

El pano moruno; Nana; Cancion; Polo; Asturiana; Jota

Born in Cádiz, in southern Spain, de Falla was the son of an Andalusian father and a Catalonian mother and became a leading Spanish composer of his time. Inspired by Grieg, de Falla took up folk material as a compositional source.

In 1915 de Falla completed his arrangement of seven popular Spanish songs, familiar not only in the original vocal version, but in the version for cello and piano heard today.   Not all of the songs are derived from folk material. While Polo (a Flamenco dance) and Jota (a dance from Aragon) are written entirely in the style of folk music, de Falla based the rest, El paño moruno (Moorish Cloth), Asturiana (a lullaby from Northern Spain), Nana (a lullaby from Andalucia), and Canción on popular sources, but has given them fresh readings with original harmonic accompaniments.    Wendy Law