In his youth, Manuel de Falla equivocated between a literary career and one in music. Around his 17th year his direction in life was crystallized by a series of orchestral concerts held at the Museo de Pinturas in Cadiz. There he heard a good deal of standard German repertoire which, though enjoyable, made little impression. However, the music of Grieg was also performed; its directness of expression, lack of structural complexity, and inimitably Norwegian flavor set up sympathetic vibrations in his musical psyche. What Grieg was doing for Norway, Falla might someday do for Spain...This recording also contains two pieces by Robert Schumann, one of which is titled Funf Stucke im Volkston (Five pieces in folk style). Title notwithstanding, this is music from a cultural source that Falla was resisting, unconsciously or otherwise. Late 18th- and 19th-century Germanic music most closely approximated the classical-period ideal of a universal musical language, at least as far as instrumental music was concerned. The sonata-allegro form dominated.
