Manuel de Falla’s early musical training centered primarily around the piano. He graduated from the Madrid Conservatory as a student of José Tragó, won a piano competition (against a number of pianists of international stature) in 1905, performed in chamber ensembles, gave recitals, made recordings of his own compositions, and, most importantly, conceived all of his compositions at the piano, the instrument which played such an important role in the orchestration of his two ballets.

De Falla’s early compositional interests tended toward late Romantic salon music, and his nationalistic intentions became very clear in his following works. His late works are often very demanding – the Fantasía Baetica, for example, is without a doubt the most ambitious work that de Falla wrote for solo piano and one of the greatest works in all of Spanish piano music. Ricardo Requejo, one of the foremost teachers and interpreters of Spanish music, has recorded his complete works for solo piano.