Manuel de Falla

Manuel de Falla, born in the port city of Cádiz in 1876, became the leading Spanish composer of his generation by looking hard at his own country's music. Seven formative years in Paris brought him close to Debussy and Ravel, and he returned to Spain in 1914 with French polish wrapped around deeply Andalusian material: flamenco rhythms, guitar figures, the wail of southern song.

His ballet The Three-Cornered Hat was staged by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes with sets and costumes by Picasso, and El amor brujo, with its Ritual Fire Dance, mixes ghost story and gypsy song. A perfectionist, he wrote relatively little. After the Spanish Civil War he left for Argentina, where he died in 1946.

Start with El amor brujo, then The Three-Cornered Hat. For a quieter side, Nights in the Gardens of Spain lets piano and orchestra drift through Andalusian evenings.