Joaquin Malats

Serenata Española

2012 marks the Centenary of Malat's death and 140 years since his birth.Joaquín Malats i Miarons (Barcelona, 1872 - 1912) was one of the first pianists to perform Albeniz's Iberia. He was a pupil of Juan Bautista Pujol in the Conservatorio Municipal de Música de Barcelona. He furthered his studies in the Paris Conservatoire where he won the first prize for piano and the Diémer prize in 1903. He concertized with great success in Europe and America. He premiered the majority of Albéniz's piano compositions. 'I am writing Iberia ... essentially because of you and for you', Albéniz wrote in a letter dated 1907. One of his most important works was Impresiones de España, an orchestral suite, but he also composed much salon music of which, this work, the Serenata Española was the most popular. It seems appropriate to celebrate this anniversary by issuing not this new exciting guitar duo arrangement by Milena Valcheva, but also this year a new annotated edition for guitar solo, based on the historical sources of the work. (ref. ECH 1421, Chanterelle Verlag 2012).