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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Prelude in G Minor Op. 23 No. 5
Alicia de Larrocha Lyrics
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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
pghagen
Amazing interpretation! Beautiful lefthand voicing of melody in the middel-section!!
milica milenkovic
This is the best interpretation so far from all the pianists. I absolutely love her Rachmaninoff, so beautiful. Her personality is perfectly suited to his music.
MrCinemuso
Consistently finding that when i come across Alicia playing any of the so-called 'warhorses', that the clarity of thought and sheer musical spunkiness makes it my new favourite version.
Henri Gaziel
@Thomas Kraynak I agree. Although I think she’s temperamentally better suited to the second. The Third is better rendered live in the amazing recording with Dutoit from ‘66.
Thomas Kraynak
Absolutely agree. Her mastery knows no bounds. Highly recommend to check out her studio and live recordings of the 2nd and 3rd concerto.
Thomas Kraynak
Thank you for the great recording! More recorded evidence of her complete mastery.
Mario Ramon Garcia
Iconic. She transformed everything she played into gold! The emotions she creates and the voicings!
Surround Max
Maravilloso....
Etienne Delaunois
wow I dind know that she has recorded this piece... pure beauty...
Teacher in my conservatoire told me "You are lucky you have good size hands, people with small hands cant play Rachmaninov for example..."
Ooops you were wrong... :)
Vladimir Horowitz
@mike pen you can never play a straight 11th chord if your maximum hand span is 9th, and that is the case with some Rachmaninoff repertoire