Alicia de Larrocha Dies at 86

[Ralph]

I enjoyed many memorable concerts by her. And I love her CDs. She performed Mozart wonderfully and Spanish composers definitively.

From The New York Times:

September 26, 2009
Alicia de Larrocha, Pianist, Dies at 86
By ALLAN KOZINN

Alicia de Larrocha, a diminutive Spanish pianist esteemed for her elegant Mozart performances and regarded as an incomparable interpreter of Albéniz, Granados, Mompou and other Spanish composers, died on Friday. She was 86.

Ms. de Larrocha died Friday evening in a hospital in Barcelona, said Gregor Benko, a family friend. He said she had been in declining health since breaking her hip two years ago.

In a career that began when she was a child — she made her concert debut at 5, and her first recording at 9 — Ms. de Larrocha cultivated a poetic interpretive style in which gracefulness was prized over technical flashiness or grand, temperamental gestures. But her approach, combined with her small physical stature — she was only 4-foot-9 — was deceptive: early in her career she played all the big Romantic concertos, including those of Liszt and Rachmaninoff, and she could produce a surprisingly large, beautifully sculptured sound.

Even so, it was in music that demanded focus, compactness and subtle coloristic breadth that Ms. de Larrocha excelled. Her Mozart performances, as well as her readings of Bach and Scarlatti, were so carefully detailed and light in texture that even as public taste shifted toward the more scholarly interpretations of period-instrument specialists, Ms. de Larrocha’s readings retained their allure. She was closely associated with the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, where she first performed in 1971. Her appearances remained among the festival’s hottest tickets until her final performance there in 2003.

Her approach to Mozart also served her well in larger works, like the Beethoven concertos. When she belatedly recorded the full cycle, with Riccardo Chailly and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, in 1986, her performance was notable for the devotional serenity she brought to the slow movements and her fleet but dignified renderings of the Allegros. But even there she retained a touch from a former age: instead of playing Beethoven’s own cadenzas in the Fourth Concerto, she played those of the composer Carl Reinecke, because those were the only ones available to her as a student in the 1930s.

Ms. de Larrocha’s most enduring contribution, however, was her championship of Spanish composers. Although Arthur Rubinstein played some of this repertory, few other pianists outside Spain did, and none with Ms. de Larrocha’s flair. She made enduring recordings of Albéniz’s “Iberia” and Granados’s “Goyescas,” and helped ease those works into the standard piano canon. She also made a powerful case for the piano music of Joaquín Turina, a composer otherwise known mostly for the guitar music he wrote for Andrés Segovia; and she almost single-handedly built a following for Federico Mompou, a Catalan composer of quietly shimmering, poetic works.

Although she was often regarded as partial to Granados — her mother and an aunt were among his piano students, but he died before Ms. de Larrocha was born — she refused to cite a favorite.

“I don’t believe there is a ‘best’ of anything in this life,” she said in a 1978 interview with Contemporary Keyboard. “I would say, though, that Granados was one of the great Spanish composers, and that, in my opinion, he was the only one that captured the real Romantic flavor. His style was aristocratic, elegant and poetic — completely different from Falla and Albéniz. To me, each of them is a different world. Falla was the one who really captured the spirit of the Gypsy music. And Albéniz, I think was more international than the others. Even though his music is Spanish in flavor, his style is completely Impressionistic.”

Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle was born in Barcelona on May 23, 1923, to Eduardo de Larrocha and Maria Teresa de la Calle. Although her mother gave up any ambition of a performing career when she married, Ms. de Larrocha’s aunt was a piano teacher at the Academia Marshall, a school founded by the pianist Frank Marshall, who was also a Granados student.

Ms. de Larrocha began to demand piano lessons when she was 3, after visiting her aunt as she taught students. At the keyboard on her own, Ms. de Larrocha imitated what she had seen her aunt’s students do, and impressed her aunt sufficiently that she took Ms. de Larrocha to Marshall. He was less encouraging. He said it was too early to start lessons, and suggested that Ms. de Larrocha be kept away from the piano. Ms. de Larrocha said that once her aunt locked the instrument, she banged her head on the floor until Marshall relented and began to teach her.

She made progress quickly. At 5, she made her concert debut, performing works by Bach and Mozart at the 1929 International Exhibition in Barcelona. She made her orchestral debut with a Mozart concerto in Madrid when she was 11.

Happenstance led to her first recordings, when she was 9. She was taken to a recording studio to watch the great Spanish mezzo-soprano Conchita Supervia at work, and the singer invited Ms. de Larrocha to record something. She played two Chopin works, a nocturne and a waltz.

The piano historian and record producer Gregor Benko has written of these recordings that “it is uncanny to note that this 9-year-old demonstrates all the elements of Chopin’s style — tone, color, legato phrasing and singing line — by means of finger technique alone, since we know Alicia’s legs were barely long enough to reach the pedals.”

When Marshall, Ms. de Larrocha’s only teacher, left Spain in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War — he was, Ms. de Larrocha said, a target of the Loyalists — the young pianist continued her studies on her own. She resumed working with Marshall after he returned in 1939, and she took over the direction of Marshall’s academy after he died in 1959. Her co-director was the pianist Juan Torra, whom she married in 1958. Mr. Torra died in 1982. They had two children, a son, Juan, and a daughter, Alicia, who survive her.

Ms. de Larrocha confined her performances mostly to Spain until 1947, when she undertook a European tour that included recitals in Paris, Geneva and Brussels. She made her American debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1955, performing Mozart’s Concerto in A (K. 488) and Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain.” That same year she had her New York recital debut at Town Hall. Her program, which included Beethoven’s large Sonata in A flat (Op. 110), Schumann’s “Carnaval” and works by Carlos Surinach, Granados and Albéniz, quickly established her strengths.

Reviewing the concert in The New York Times, Harold C. Schonberg wrote of her Spanish set that “she had a way of idiomatically shaping a musical phrase that cannot be taught — a sudden dynamic shift, a note instinctively accented, a touch of the pedal, an application of rubato. Her rhythm was extraordinarily flexible. Obviously this music is in the pianist’s blood. She invested it with a degree of life and imagination that not many pianists before the public today could begin to duplicate.”

Yet Ms. de Larrocha was a reluctant star. She returned to Spain; taught at the Marshall academy; made a series of exquisite recordings for the Spanish Hispavox label, which were later licensed for release by Vox and other American companies; and played occasional recitals in Europe. She returned to the United States after Herbert Breslin, a concert manager, heard her Hispavox recording of “Iberia” and brought her back for performances in 1965, including her first appearance with the New York Philharmonic.

Mr. Breslin also built her recording career, getting Ms. de Larrocha signed to an international recording contract with the British Decca label. For Decca she remade the Spanish works that she had recorded for Hispavox, and added many others, as well as a great deal of Mozart and albums of Bach, Franck, Ravel and Rachmaninoff. She recorded for Decca until 1990, when she took a new look at her repertory for BMG Classics.

“There are two kinds of repertory Alicia plays,” Mr. Breslin said in 1978. “Things she plays extremely well, and things she plays better than anyone else. But what I think makes her a phenomenon is that she doesn’t give the impression of being a great personality. She’s cool as a cucumber. Onstage, she doesn’t even like to look at the audience. So what the public is responding to is something in the music.”

After 1965, Ms. de Larrocha visited the United States regularly, and continued making annual recital, concerto and, occasionally, chamber music appearances, until her retirement in 2003. She was, as always, self-conscious about her size. In the mid-1990s she complained that she was shrinking: by 1995 her height was only 4 foot 5, and where her small hand had been able to reach the interval of a 10th in her heyday, she was by then able to reach only a ninth, which limited her repertory somewhat.

But over all her technique never failed her, nor did her sense of color, especially in the twin pillars of her repertory, Spanish music and Mozart. She continued to earn glowing reviews.

When she played her final Carnegie Hall performance — the chamber version of Mozart’s Concerto No. 12 in A (K. 414), with the Tokyo String Quartet, in November 2002 — The New York Times reported that, “The small details — the trills and turns that adorn the score — as well as the more expansive pianism in the cadenzas and the glowing Andante, had considerable energy behind them.”

The review continued: “Her performance had the bright, light quality that she brought to her playing in the 70s, when her appearances at the Mostly Mozart Festival were among the highlights of New York summers. If anything, her approach to Mozart on Monday was more fluid, more carefully nuanced than it was then.”

[ravel30]

Ralph,

Thank you so much for posting that. I do not know about you but for me, this is like the lost of a very close friend. She is probably my favorite pianist. It seems to me that she had a long a wonderful life. I will never forget you Ms. De Larroucha !!!

I am planning to spend the next few days listening to all the cd that I have from her (which is not that many) and I suggest to everyone who doesn't know any recording of that superb pianist to give it a try.

Ravel30

[Donaldopato]

RIP great lady, simply one of the best.

I did a bad thing as a college student, but 33 years later I still remember every bit of it. It involved de Larrocha.

I volunteered as a tour guide at the University of Illinois Krannert Center while attending school there. After conducting a tour I noted on the board that the Great Hall was reserved from 3-4 pm for Ms de Larrocha who was performing that evening. Knowing all the entrances and exits, I snuck quietly into the hall and sure enough, she came out to test the piano and warm up. Her assistant or whoever left, not noticing me up in the darkened balcony. Ms de Larrocha warmed up and then played Alborada del Gracioso, plus "Triana" and the "Rondeña" from Albeniz's "Iberia" just for me. I chickened out and left after that. Totally stupid on my part, but since then I have been an ardent fan of this diminutive lady with a big smile and passion for her art. I attended the concert that night which consisted of the Ravel, Mozart "Turkish" Sonata and selections from Iberia. It was amazing.

Where is my copy of Iberia, I must listen to it!

[Werner]

One of the Greats of her time, Alicia De Larrocha - a favorite artist in concert, a wide range of composers in my LP library - the queen of the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York for many years, when her Mozart performances were always exceptional and personable. A master, yes, of the Spanish repertoire, but a great artist in anything she touched.

Gone but not to be forgotten.

[stenka razin]

de Larrocha was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. I am saddened by her loss. Her beautiful recordings will live on forever in our minds and hearts. Future generations will be able to hear her beautiful interpretations of her beloved Spanish music and the music of Mozart among many other composers. She will be missed.

P.S. I saw her perform on many occasions and I cherish those wonderful, memories of this eminent pianist.

[Lance]

This is tragic news for me. I so loved her artistry. I will enjoy, more than ever, the 63 CD recordings I have of her art, and LPs I collected from the very beginning. She maintained a career for a longer period of time than most pianists. I was surprised she was 86 ... she certainly didn't look it, even in late recording photographs.

[Wallingford]

She and Gerard Schwarz did many memorable appearances in Seattle as well.

The above-mentioned recording she made at age 9 is heard in the VAI anthology CD, The Catalan Piano Tradition, with fine examples from Albeniz and others (made more audible than ever thanks to Ward Marston's restoration wizardry).

[Chalkperson]

Very sad day for Piano Fans...

[Agnes Selby]

Thank you, Ralph for posting the sad news.

I was fortunate to hear her perform at the old Academy of Music
in Philadelphia in the 1980s. I remember it was a Friday evening
and in the morning she spoke to the ladies who subscribed
to the concerts where I was also present. She spoke about her
life. It was very touching and unforgettable.

I forwarded your post to my daughter, Kathy, who will tell her audience tomorrow night about this truly sad loss.

Regards,
Agnes.

[RebLem]

My shoulders sank as I read the headline.
I had just put de Larrocha's set of the Mozart piano sonatas on the desk to listen to on my puter speakers while working here about an hour before. I will listen to most of them this weekend. And watch out at ArkivMusic.com, too. They often have a sale on important artists' CDs within a month after their deaths.

[Ricordanza]

I am saddened by the death of this great lady and great musician. In addition to the recordings I own and will continue to play--especially Granados' Goyescas--I retain the memory of the only recital of hers that I had the opportunity to attend. It was in 1971, at Hunter College in New York, and the program included the Bach/Busoni Chaconne. This was the first time I had heard this incredible piece, and what an introduction! I have yet to hear a better performance. I also recall the two occasions when I met her: first, around the time of this recital, when she stayed at the home of neighbors of my parents in Point Lookout, NY (I remember being astonished at the contrast between her small size and the strength of her handshake); and in July 2004, when she was accompanied by this same neighbor to Earl Wild's recital at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival. Sadly, she looked older and more frail than Earl Wild, who was 7 or 8 years older than her.

[diegobueno]

I heard her perform at Cornell some time during the late 80s or early 90s. Even before she played a note, I was impressed by the business-like way she strode on to the stage, addressed the piano, and sat down to play. Like her playing, it was confident and no-nonsense. Her demeanor said "Well, here we are. I'm going to play the piano, you're going to listen. Let's get on with it". Then she put her tiny hands on the keyboard and these amazing sounds came out. The first half consisted of a hefty chunk of Albéniz's Iberia and I don't remember the 2nd half, but I seem to remember Mendelssohn's Variations serieuses being in there, and there was a Soler sonata as an encore.

[Donald Isler]

Very sad. She was a major artistic presence here in New York for so many years. And, obviously, she was a terrific musician right from the beginning, as anyone who has heard those first astonishing Chopin recordings, made at age 9, will agree.

[Teresa B]

I am so sorry to hear this. I will always remember her as one of the most wonderful players of my favorite composer, Mozart. She was a great lady.

Teresa

[Lance]

A lovely tribute, Ricordanza. That Chaconne, incidentally, is available in the 7-CD set form Decca [477 813], "The Art of Alicia De Larrocha." There's quite a few things on this set that have been previously unissed on CD.

I am saddened by the death of this great lady and great musician. In addition to the recordings I own and will continue to play--especially Granados' Goyescas--I retain the memory of the only recital of hers that I had the opportunity to attend. It was in 1971, at Hunter College in New York, and the program included the Bach/Busoni Chaconne. This was the first time I had heard this incredible piece, and what an introduction! I have yet to hear a better performance. I also recall the two occasions when I met her: first, around the time of this recital, when she stayed at the home of neighbors of my parents in Point Lookout, NY (I remember being astonished at the contrast between her small size and the strength of her handshake); and in July 2004, when she was accompanied by this same neighbor to Earl Wild's recital at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival. Sadly, she looked older and more frail than Earl Wild, who was 7 or 8 years older than her.

[DanPadilla]

One of the truly great pianists of our time. An elegant player but more importantly and elegant human being. She will surely be missed. Here's a link to an article with a great video of her playing one of my favorite Spanish pieces

http://tinyurl.com/ybsla7z

Dan Padilla
Honolulu Music Examiner

[andrevazpereira]

Very sad news!!!

She was the one who made me belive that it is possible to achive great artistery with a very small hand. I always remember when my teachers wanted me to move the arms in order to reach the notes they always told me: "Alicia de Larrocha can, so you can too! Just do the right thing, move your armes and you will also reach whatever you want" (this was regarding to the famouse Chopin etude op.25 nº1).

I will never forget the moment when i saw this videos some years ago on youtube.

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[ch1525]

I'm just seeing this thread now. Very sad news. She has always been one of my favorites. I first got to know the Mozart Piano Sonatas with her recordings. And her Granados!!! She will be missed. It is obvious how many lives she has enriched with her artistry by the postings on this thread.

[AntonioA]

She surely enriched MY life. Her recordings were obvious first choices when i startet to listen to classical music from my home country. Rubinstein was great too in Falla, Granados and Albeniz, but he didn´t record very much of that repertoire. Gracias, Alicia.

[Lance]

Interestingly, when de Larrocha performed as a little girl in the Barcelona 1929 International Exhibition, Artur Rubinstein was in the audience and predicted a great future for the little girl. It has been written, too, that Rubinstein was very influential on her own pianism. I think so much of Alicia de Larrocha's art that I am presenting to radio broadcasts in her honour.

She surely enriched MY life. Her recordings were obvious first choices when i startet to listen to classical music from my home country. Rubinstein was great too in Falla, Granados and Albeniz, but he didn´t record very much of that repertoire. Gracias, Alicia.

[THEHORN]

She may have passed away , but her legacy of great recordings will ensure her a place in the pantheon of great pianists .

[dirkronk]

I do not have as many LPs and CDs of her work as Lance, but I have quite a number which I consider treasures. She was an amazing talent. May her work always be kept, honored and valued by piano lovers.

Dirk

[Lance]

Hi Dirk ... I count myself fortunate that in de Larrocha's work, I heard something very special and early on. I started collecting her earliest records for American Decca and never stopped. In the Spanish realm, there is, far as I know, no one to replace an artist of this caliber, especially in music by Granados, Albéniz, Turina, Mompou, and others. She never really wanted to be pigeon-holed for her Spanish repertoire, but she certainly gives this music a quality that is not replicated by many!

I do not have as many LPs and CDs of her work as Lance, but I have quite a number which I consider treasures. She was an amazing talent. May her work always be kept, honored and valued by piano lovers.

Dirk

[piston]

Not too late for an interview, I hope. From the New York Times:

AT HOME WITH: Alicia de Larrocha;A Pianissimo Star
By JAMES BARRON
Published: Thursday, November 23, 1995
The Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha has a lot of carpet padding in her apartment, down the block and around the corner from Carnegie Hall, but not all of it is under the carpet. Several thick rolls have been hidden beneath the sounding board of her Steinway grand -- out of sight, but they do the job.

"I do not want to disturb the neighbors," she said midway through a recent interview. Inspecting the old-fashioned coarse-hair material, she added: "I didn't want them to complain. The very first day, a friend of mine put the stuff under the piano. I can practice very comfortably."

Hans Boon, an assistant to her manager, was clearly agitated. What would Steinway & Sons think if they knew that Miss de Larrocha's piano had been -- what is the word? -- altered.

"Just say the apartment is soundproofed," he declared, trying to steer the talk to the forest of framed, autographed photographs on the instrument's closed lid, another sound-reducer. Three images stand out: of Miss de Larrocha with the virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz; her with the music director of the New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur, and her with the violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Mr. Boon has it almost right: Miss de Larrocha's apartment is quiet, particularly for a postwar building, but not quite as quiet as a quiz-show isolation booth or a recording studio. Her floor-to-ceiling curtains, her yellow upholstered sofa and her grayish wall-to-wall carpet are all sound absorbers. But the strategically placed padding means the piano does not produce much sound to begin with.

Miss de Larrocha, who is 72, whips off a full-bodied warm-up arpeggio; it sounds small and far off. Mr. Boon says he has rung her doorbell without realizing that the faint piano playing he could hear in the hallway was coming from within.

Do the neighbors press their ears to the walls? They will never tell. But Miss de Larrocha values her own privacy, too. She wants to be able to practice, to smooth out tricky fingerings, without being heard. It is not always easy. In France some years ago, she stayed in a suite with a piano. Before long, a bouquet of flowers arrived with a card saying: "Please play louder. I want to hear you." A warm-up in Zurich had the opposite result. "The police came," she said. "They said, 'On Sundays, it's forbidden to make any noise or to work in your garden.' "

In preparation for a recital this Sunday at Avery Fisher Hall, Miss de Larrocha could easily have stayed at home practicing, stopping only to answer the telephone on the little shelf at her elbow. After all, she appeared on the same stage, only three weeks ago, with the New York Philharmonic. But she has been across the continent and back since then, playing in San Francisco, San Diego, Louisville, Ky., and Pittsburgh. Next week she is off to Florida, for concerts in Naples and West Palm Beach, and she has 43 concerts or recitals scheduled between mid-December and next May.

Off stage, she looks more than ever like the incredible shrinking pianist, barely able to reach the pedals. "I used to be 4 foot 7," she said. "Now I'm 4 foot 6, or 4 foot 5." In other words, she is about as tall sitting at the piano as standing up. Her hands are tinier than ever. "I used to reach a 10th," she said. "Now, a ninth, with some difficulty." (It is extremely rare to find a concert pianist who cannot easily stretch a 10th -- that is, from middle C to the E in the octave above. Van Cliburn was renowned for covering a 12th, up to the G above that E.) Fans may have noticed this in her three recordings of "Goyescas" by Enrique Granados. "The first and second record, you can hear the 10th," she said. "The third, no, because my hand is shrinking." What about demanding, big-handed composers like Rachmaninoff? "I don't play him anymore."

Miss de Larrocha, who made her American debut 40 years ago and became a superstar after a New York Philharmonic appearance about 10 years later, says she has changed her technique as she has aged. To generate auditorium-filling sound, she used to set the piano bench as high as it would go, the opposite of low-benchers like Glenn Gould. "I used to play with all my strength from my shoulders and my back," she said, "so I had to be higher." But her arms are so short that when the music called for her to go from one end of the keyboard to the other, she had to twist sharply; she ended up almost facing the audience. In recent years she has taught herself to sit closer to the keyboard, minimizing the extremes of movement.

She made her debut as a youngster, at the 1929 World's Fair in Barcelona, Spain, her hometown. At 11, she was playing with a Madrid orchestra. About the same time, she went to a recording studio to watch the Spanish mezzo-soprano Conchita Supervia, who finished an aria and told the young Alicia that it was her turn to make a disk. She played a Chopin waltz and a nocturne.

But while she is now a four-time Grammy Award winner and a regular on Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart programs, her ascent to the ranks of superstardom took some time. She was popular in South America and had toured Japan, but was not a big draw in this country until the public-relations executive Herbert Breslin heard one of her recordings (on the European label Hispavox) and wrote a letter asking if he could represent her in the United States.

"We got her involved in things she hates," Mr. Breslin, who became her manager, said from across the living room during the interview. "If you mention television to Alicia de Larrocha . . . "

"I get sick," she said, finishing the sentence. This from someone who was seen on a "Live From Lincoln Center" telecast of Mostly Mozart's opening concert last July.

"I don't like anyone watching me," she said. "Sitting on the piano so short, I'm not nice to watch, and music is to listen to, not to watch." She wants concertgoers to keep their distance. "If I realize there are cameras around, I'm not comfortable." Usually she does not notice cameras, but in July, one caught her attention. "No distraction," she said, "but I was terrified."

Nor is she comfortable with being mentioned in the same breath as Horowitz, as critics have done since the 1960's. "I am me, and I don't like anybody to compare me to others," she said. "Everything in my personality depends on my mood -- sometimes very dark, sometimes very bright and optimistic. I am a very variable person."

As the daylight faded, she switched on a lamp in the apartment, which is one of three places where she spends time between concert tours. Her official residence is in Coppet, Switzerland, near Geneva. And her family has a penthouse in Barcelona, where she stays when she is there, as she will be next month, to listen to auditions at the music school that she took over from her teacher. Her husband, Juan Torra, also a pianist, died some years ago; their grown children remain in Barcelona.

The conversation turned to on-the-road stories. Once she was locked in a rehearsal studio in South Africa; the guard, not realizing she was still inside practicing, shut off the electricity for the night. "I was touching the walls to find the switch for the lights," she said. Finally she found a telephone and called the concert promoter, pleading, "Can you rescue me?"

And then there was a trip to west Africa. She was bumped from a scheduled jet flight from Johannesburg. With a concert to play, she chartered a single-engine plane whose pilot, it turned out, liked to fly low.

"He was saying, 'Look at the lions,' " she said. "Then he asked if I had a telephone number for where I was going. I said yes, but why? He said: 'Animals go out to eat and I don't want to leave you. There's a phone booth but nobody there. Don't go out of the phone booth.' " Left at a deserted landing strip, she said: "I was in that phone booth for 20 minutes before they finally came and picked me up. It was an eternity."

Photos: "I am a very variable person," says the artist, in her home.

A version of this biography appeared in print on Thursday, November 23, 1995, on section C page 1 of the New York edition.

[Cyril Ignatius]

A great loss. A highly accomplished artist. A great success story.

[Wallingford]

One more memory of DeLarrocha :

She appeared in a late-90s Seattle concert with Schwarz, with her number--a Mozart concerto, can't recall which one (#23?....."21?.....)--as the opener; and to follow it up, a BRUCKNER symphony.

Frankly, I don't know why the programmers made the Bruckner the "treat," beings the concerto with the star soloist is supposedly the "entertainment value." In any event, I was rather happy that I could conveniently depart the hall once intermission rolled around, and any hard feelings I might've had about theoretically letting half my ticket investment go to waste were infinitesimal indeed.

I mean, how do you sanely & rationally follow up an act like that?