Like almost every composer-pianist of his era, Granados wrote character pieces throughout his career, both for his own use as a performer and for the home market. Some of those he created in carefully integrated suites, such as the Valses poéticos and Goyescas, his masterpiece. 

The 12 Spanish dances that were gathered in 1892 (in four volumes of three each and sometimes identified as “Op. 37”) were not so designed. Granados himself said that he wrote most of them in 1883 (when he was 16), though he undoubtedly refined and revised them prior to publication. They were very popular, however, and quickly went through a number of editions. In 1912, Granados’ Catalan compatriot and colleague Joan Lamote de Grignon orchestrated three of them with considerable imagination and flair—lots of striking solo opportunities—for the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, which he had founded the year before. 

All three of these, like most such character pieces, are cast in A-B-A form, with the main dance framing a more lyrical interlude. In the case of “Oriental,” that main theme is also songful, in a gently melancholic way, elegant and supple. “Andaluza” is famous in transcriptions for guitar, suggested by its urgent rhythmic drive. The “Rondalla aragonesa” is a bright and brilliant jota, the characteristic folk dance of Aragon in northeastern Spain. —John Henken