The Spanish Album represents classical music’s resurgence in Spain in the mid-nineteenth century, and the nationalistic emphasis of the Romantic era certainly provided fertile ground for the use of the unique sounds of the Iberian Peninsula. In the realm of violin music, Pablo de Sarasate’s compositions revealed Romantic Spain to much of the world and were inspirations for many other composers’ violin works in the same vein. Eric Wen has compiled a great representative survey of this musical period, and his foreword provides a lively and informative background for the pieces and composers in this book. Includes Camille Saint-Saëns’ Havanaise en mi majeur, Pablo de Sarasate’s Malagueña, José Aviles’ La Media noche, and 14 others.