I have never heard better performances of any of these pieces . . . ease of all-encompassing technique, improvisatory freedom, poetic imagination and uncanny and unshakeable sense of rhythm.

. . . one of the most important recordings of a pianist released in the past year or so . . . The performances on this disc are among the best ever recorded of this repertoire. In Granados’ “El fandango de candil”, for example, Prats is able to weave the music’s several lines so expertly that the piece never seems to wander. He raises the lyricism of “Quejas o la maja y el ruisenor” to the height of exquisite perfection. And he can unleash, without the slightest strain, a torrent of virtuosity in “El pelele”, while being no less sensitive to the passionate love duet of “Coloquio en la reja”. In the Villa-Lobos, he captures the great Brazilian composer’s improvisatory spirit and kaleidoscopic colour in a manner that matches great interpreters of the past . . .