Product Description
-------------------
Decca presents this 41CD set which heralds a significant program
of digital releases alongside a strong social campaign by Decca
for the revered Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha. Thanks to a
new collaboration with the Estate, Decca have secured editorial
control of her streaming and official social platforms. More on
this shortly, but her daughter and biographer are both confirmed
as spokespersons.
A Decca artist for nearly 20 years, her interpretations of
Spanish music remain the gold standard, but she was equally at
home with Bach, Mozart, 19th-century virtuoso fare and the
Russian Romantics. Included are previously unreleased s
of Grieg and Albéniz; 2 CDs of her early Hispavox/EMI Madrid
s of piano encores; and an excerpt from a new biography
of Ms Larrocha by Mònica Pagès.
If you wanted to encounter a ‘Who’s Who’ of New York City-based
keyboard titans gathered in one place in the 1970s, you only had
to purchase a ticket for an Alicia de Larrocha recital. At her
concerts you might encounter the likes of Arthur Rubinstein, Gina
Bachauer, Van Cliburn, Claudio Arrau and Vladimir Horowitz. Such
was the level of reverence by fellow pianists for her
musicianship and sheer technical brilliance.
• The music of Spain is central to this collection, and de
Larrocha’s interpretations and characterizations brought new
meaning and importance to these works and remain the gold
standard – highlights include: Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of
Spain, Albéniz’ Ibéria, and Granados’ Goyescas.
• When it came to 19th-century virtuoso fare, key corners of the
French repertoire, and the Russian Romantics, de Larrocha
positively flourished: The Khachaturian Concerto; Rachmaninov’s
Second and Third Concertos; Franck’s Symphonic Variations;
Ravel’s Concerto, Grieg’s Piano Sonata [previously unreleased],
Mendelssohn’s Variations
• Larrocha’s Schumann playing is fluent and poetic; notice, for
example, the Concerto, Kreisleriana, Faschingsschwank aus Wien,
the C Major Fantasy, the F-sharp Novelette, plus both analogue
and digital versions of the rarely heard B Minor Allegro and the
perpetually popular Carnaval
ALICIA DE LARROCHA
Greatly respected by her peers, not least Arthur Rubinstein, Gina
Bachauer, Van Cliburn, Claudio Arrau and Vladimir Horowitz, if
you wanted to witness a Who’s Who of New York City-based keyboard
luminaries gathered in one place, you simply had to purchase a
ticket for an Alicia de Larrocha recital.. Slight of frame, de
Larrocha’s physical stature belied her considerable
accomplishments, not least in key corners of the French
repertoire and the Russian Romantics where she positively
flourished and we marvel at the pianist’s tiny hands effortlessly
traversing huge leaps on the keyboard and summoning colossal
sonorities that never splinter.
Born in Barcelona on May 23, 1923. Alicia de Larrocha came from a
musical family. Both her mother and her aunt were disciples of
the composer and pianist Enrique Granados. Alicia began lessons
at the age of three with Granados’ student and teaching
assistant, Frank Marshall who insisted that his gifted student
gain a solid foundation in Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and
Chopin, which, in turn, helped to inform what would become her
standard-setting interpretations of Spanish music. She explained
in a 1973 Gramophone interview “if you can't play Bach correctly,
you can't play Spanish music.”
Her first American recitals in 1954 and 1955 coincided with her
first major label s, made in New York for American
Decca, all reissued as part of the present collection. Though she
broached the process reluctantly, she nonetheless
recorded a large discography and it was her association with
British Decca between 1970 and 1988 that was to be her longest
and most fruitful major label relationship.
Review
------
“Miss Larrocha strikes me as one of the very best pianists to
have come out of Spain in recent years. She has an impeccably
clean technique, considerable strength, verve and temperament,
but a level enough head to keep her from exaggerating effects …
Her tonal sense and phrasing are exemplary.” Gramophone,1955
“Effortless … this doyenne of Spanish pianists knows how to tap
the lyrical source to so much of Mozart’s invention and how to
sing like a nightingale. She invites us to listen; but her tone
of voice is never over-insistent. … All credit to Decca for the
warm and lifelike sound.” Gramophone,1979
“To prove how her tiny hands could make colossal sounds without
banging, listen to her pull out the Bach/Busoni Chaconne’s
virtuoso stops and still manage to draw attention to the music
rather than to the pianist.” Classics Today
“[In the Liszt Sonata] she is illuminating often on matters of
weight and touch (for example the rapid arpeggios in the first
Agitato bit, also later); the fugue begins with splendid
lightness and attack (the piano sound just about ideal here) …
The is … indispensable listening for devotees of
superior pianism.” Gramophone,1978
“Alicia de Larrocha’s limpid, elegant pianism is equally at home
in the brilliant, refined impressionism of Ravel and the
late-Romantic intensity of Fauré and Franck.” Limelight
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About the Artist
----------------
Greatly respected by her peers, not least Arthur Rubinstein,
Gina Bachauer, Van Cliburn, Claudio Arrau and Vladimir Horowitz,
if you wanted to witness a Who’s Who of New York City-based
keyboard luminaries gathered in one place, you simply had to
purchase a ticket for an Alicia de Larrocha recital.. Slight of
frame, de Larrocha’s physical stature belied her considerable
accomplishments, not least in key corners of the French
repertoire and the Russian Romantics where she positively
flourished and we marvel at the pianist’s tiny hands effortlessly
traversing huge leaps on the keyboard and summoning colossal
sonorities that never splinter. Born in Barcelona on May 23,
1923. Alicia de Larrocha came from a musical family. Both her
mother and her aunt were disciples of the composer and pianist
Enrique Granados. Alicia began lessons at the age of three with
Granados’ student and teaching assistant, Frank Marshall who
insisted that his gifted student gain a solid foundation in Bach,
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, which, in turn, helped to
inform what would become her standard-setting interpretations of
Spanish music. She explained in a 1973 Gramophone interview “if
you can't play Bach correctly, you can't play Spanish music.” Her
first American recitals in 1954 and 1955 coincided with her first
major label s, made in New York for American Decca, all
reissued as part of the present collection. Though she broached
the process reluctantly, she nonetheless recorded a
large discography and it was her association with British Decca
between 1970 and 1988 that was to be her longest and most
fruitful major label relationship.
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