Norman Lloyd called it “the most famous tango in concert music” — you’ve heard Albéniz’s little Tango in D even if you don’t know its name. It’s the second of the six album leaves that make up España, Op. 165 (1890).
It’s slow, sunlit, a swaying habanera rhythm. Llobet’s guitar transcription made it repertoire; on piano it asks for generous rubato and a pedal used sparingly, so the left hand can rock without smudging.
No one makes this music sound more idiomatic than Alicia de Larrocha, who spent a lifetime proving that Spanish piano music belongs at the center of the repertoire: