Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 1923 – 25 September 2009) was a Sp… Read Full Bio ↴Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 1923 – 25 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist, widely considered to be one of the greatest of her generation
She was born in Barcelona, and began studying piano with Frank Marshall in Spain at age three. She performed her first concert at the age of six at the World's Fair in Seville in 1929, and had her orchestral debut at the age of 11. She began touring internationally in 1947, and in 1954 toured North America with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
De Larrocha has made numerous recordings of solo piano repertoire and she is generally seen as an advocate of Spanish works. She is best known for her recordings of the music of Enrique Granados and Isaac Albéniz, as well as her 1967 recordings of Antonio Soler's piano sonatas. She won her first Grammy Award in 1975 and again, as recently as 1992, at the age of almost seventy.
As De Larrocha aged, she began to play a different style of music. She was originally a Mozart player, but she wanted to spread Latin and Spanish music to the world. This is one reason why she is now best known for her recordings of Granados and Albeniz.
As of 1995, she was still active as a pianist, but conceded having to make adjustments with age. For a pianist her hands are small, her height is under 150 centimetres, but she has grown even smaller with age. This led to her having to quit playing Rachmaninoff.
She received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 1994.
Alicia de Larrocha died on 25 September 2009 in Quiron Hospital, Barcelona, aged 86. Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde said: "She was an extraordinary ambassador for Spain".
She was born in Barcelona, and began studying piano with Frank Marshall in Spain at age three. She performed her first concert at the age of six at the World's Fair in Seville in 1929, and had her orchestral debut at the age of 11. She began touring internationally in 1947, and in 1954 toured North America with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
De Larrocha has made numerous recordings of solo piano repertoire and she is generally seen as an advocate of Spanish works. She is best known for her recordings of the music of Enrique Granados and Isaac Albéniz, as well as her 1967 recordings of Antonio Soler's piano sonatas. She won her first Grammy Award in 1975 and again, as recently as 1992, at the age of almost seventy.
As De Larrocha aged, she began to play a different style of music. She was originally a Mozart player, but she wanted to spread Latin and Spanish music to the world. This is one reason why she is now best known for her recordings of Granados and Albeniz.
As of 1995, she was still active as a pianist, but conceded having to make adjustments with age. For a pianist her hands are small, her height is under 150 centimetres, but she has grown even smaller with age. This led to her having to quit playing Rachmaninoff.
She received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 1994.
Alicia de Larrocha died on 25 September 2009 in Quiron Hospital, Barcelona, aged 86. Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde said: "She was an extraordinary ambassador for Spain".
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Hungarian Dance No. 5 In G Minor
Alicia de Larrocha Lyrics
No lyrics text found for this track.
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
Henri Gaziel
This is fantastic! Absolute prime of Larrocha’s playing. She had just recorded the concerto for the second time (in a fantastic, criminally underrated, set with Chailly and RSO Berlin). So, we have a complete Beethoven First, thank you to whoever posted this complete Fifth. There is a beautiful clip of the second movement of the Fourth from Barcelona from her last year of playing, 2003, I believe. It’s so beautiful, it is almost a valediction. Surely the rest is available? Then there is a tantalising clip of a fantastic Third in New York. Let’s find the second and we have an incredible set. This recording is of historical importance. Her standard was so high, every performance contains a perfection beyond the realm of mortals.
Henri Gaziel
There is a little of the Beethoven 4 on the compilation ‘A Tribute to Alicia de Larrocha’. Enjoy!
Henri Gaziel
Lisilin of the fabulous archive: are there televised recordings of the complete Beethoven concertos? Thank you for all your posts. They are treasures! And thank the lord, for a supremo who hated being recorded, the Lady was occasionally persuaded. Such an astounding legacy.
Henri Gaziel
@nyc2cal What a shame, it’s been taken down. It was late in her career, from two concerts in June and July 2002 with Orquestra Simfònica del Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. The playing was like a valediction, very beautiful. Presumably they recorded the whole concert?
nyc2cal
Where is the clip of the Beethoven #4 second movement?
Facundo Ramírez Piano
¡Maravillosa pianista, tan musical y entrañable!
Alfi Perez
The best!!!!
Ryan David
Thanks so much for uploading this performance!!!
加藤糠虫
The composer Shin-ichiro Ikebe explains. Piano has three strings for each keyboard. In Japanese, the three strings are called "gen(弦,string)-mitsu(三,three)", which is meant to be strict "genmitsu(厳密)". Strictly speaking, the sound will be affected.
Janacek'sDad
As good as this is, it's not Alicia at her absolute best...otoh, her studio recording with Mehta is the best performance of this concerto I've ever heard.