To make a long story short...
This composition is based on a Bach Two-Part Invention and inspired by Granados' Goyescas.
To make a short story long...
Bach's amazing legacy of keyboard works are a never ending source of inspiration to me. I love the Inventions, the Suites (English & French), the Partitas, and the Well Tempered Clavier. I especially love the Goldberg Variations (my composition "Little Baby Steps" is inspired by one of the variations).
Bach wrote the Inventions to be teaching pieces - indeed, one of them taught me quite a lot. While I was working on the B minor Two-Part Invention, I experimented with different ways of both phrasing the melody and articulating the embellishments or trills. I wound up favoring a Spanish flavor that had captured my attention after hearing Alicia De Larocha's beautiful recording of a suite of pieces for solo piano called "Goyescas". These gorgeous, passionate pieces were written by the famous Spanish composer Enrique Granados. Each of them is inspired by a different painting by Goya.
My own "Spanish Rhapsody" is modeled on melodic and harmonic information from the B minor Invention, with the embellishments and many of the rhythms being rooted in the music of Granados. At times it sounds very "guitar-like" and often displays a serious jazz influence. My favorite part is a four measure phrase before the 'Flamenco' section, where the conclusion of the melodic statement occurs. In these measures, I expanded the Invention material to four-parts as a way of bowing with great respect, admiration and gratitude to the great master himself.