Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 12/07/2004, uploaded on 01/10/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Three Spanish Dances    Pablo de Sarasate

Habañera, Op. 21, No. 2

Born Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascuéz in Pamplona in 1844, Pablo began studying violin at the age of five with his father, an artillery bandmaster. George Bernard Shaw once said that though there were many composers of music for the violin, there were but few composers of violin music. But of Sarasate's talents, both as performer and composer, Shaw said that he "left criticism gasping miles behind him." Indeed, Sarasate's four volumes of Spanish dances for violin and piano have been favorites for generations. He considerably helped to popularize the "Spanish idiom" with his music, particularly the marvelous set of Spanish dances. In a purely violinistic sense, there is no better writing, for he knew and exploited the best of the instrument, both tonally and technically.    Lindsay Deutsch

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.