Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 192325 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist and composer. She was considered one of the great piano legends of the 20th century. Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", '' Time'' "one of the world's most outstanding pianists", and '' The Guardian'' "the leading Spanish pianist of her time". She won multiple

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

and a Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. She is credited with bringing greater popularity to the compositions of Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados. In 1995, she became the first Spanish artist to win the UNESCO Prize.

Life and career

Alicia de Larrocha was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She began studying piano with Frank Marshall at the age of three. Both her parents were pianists and she was also the niece of pianists. She gave her first public performance at the age of five at the International Exposition in Barcelona. 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. By 1943, her performances were selling out in Spain. She began touring internationally in 1947, and in 1954 toured North America with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

. In 1966, she engaged in a first tour of Southern Africa which proved so wildly popular that three further tours were completed In 1969, de Larrocha performed in Boston for the

Peabody Mason Concert Benefactor The name Peabody Mason comes from Miss Fanny Peabody Mason, who until her death in 1948 was an active patron of music both in the United States and abroad. Her musical interests were piano, singing and chamber music. Concert series ...

series. De Larrocha, writes Jed Distler, "started composing at age seven and continued on and off until her 30th year, with a prolific spurt in her late teens," and while she never performed her works in public, she gave her family the choice of making them available after her death, which they have done. De Larrocha made numerous recordings of the solo piano repertoire and in particular the works of composers of her native Spain. She is best known for her recordings of the music of Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados, Federico Mompou, and Isaac Albéniz, as well as her 1967 recordings of Antonio Soler's keyboard sonatas. She recorded for Hispavox, CBS/Columbia/Epic, BMG/RCA and London/Decca, winning her first Grammy Award in 1975 and her last one in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, at the age of almost seventy. She received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 1994. De Larrocha spoke in a 1978 interview with Contemporary Keyboard,

I don't believe there is a 'best' of anything in this life. 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.

Less than five feet tall and with small hands for a pianist, spanning an interval of barely a tenth on the keyboard, in her younger years she was nonetheless able to tackle all the big concertos ( all five by Beethoven, Liszt's No. 1, Brahms's No. 2, Rachmaninoff's Nos. 2 and 3, both of Ravel's, and those of Prokofiev, Bartók, Bliss and

Khachaturian Khachaturian, Khachaturyan, Khachadurian or Khachatourian ( hy, Խաչատուրյան) is an Armenian surname meaning "cross bearer". People with the name include the following: * Leon Khachatourian (born 1936), Iranian Armenian boxer * Aram Khach ...

, and many more), as well as the wide spans demanded by the music of Granados, Albéniz, and de Falla. She had a "long fifth finger" and a "wide stretch between thumb and index finger" which enhanced her technical ability. "She made her first recordings, of Chopin, at age 9, her feet not yet able to reach the pedals" and was considered a great interpreter of Chopin. As she grew older she began to play a different style of music; more

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

and Beethoven were featured in her recitals and she became a regular guest at the "Mostly Mozart Festival" of the

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

in New York. In 2001, she was named Honorary Member of the

Foundation for Iberian Music The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the ...

at The City University of New York. De Larrocha retired from public performance in October 2003, aged 80, following a 76-year career. Alicia de Larrocha died on 25 September 2009 in Quiron Hospital, Barcelona, aged 86. She had been in declining health since breaking her hip five years previously. Her husband, the pianist Juan Torra, with whom she had two children, had died in 1982.

List of awards and nominations

De Larrocha won several individual awards throughout her lifetime. Her extended discography has been recognized with 14 Grammy nominations (1967, 1971, 1974,1975 (x2), 1977 (x2), 1982 (x2), 1984, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992), of which she won four. She received honorary degrees from universities in Michigan,

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

, Vermont, and Carnegie Mellon. A

crater Crater may refer to: Landforms *Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet *Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...

on the planet Mercury has been named in her honor. , - , 1960 , , Albéniz: ''Iberia'' – Books II & III ( Erato Records) , , Grand Prix du Disque , , , - , 1968 , , Granados: ''

Goyescas ''Goyescas'', Op. 11, subtitled ''Los majos enamorados'' (''The Gallants in Love''), is a piano suite written in 1911 by Spanish composer Enrique Granados. It was inspired by the work of the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. The piano pieces have no ...

'' – Book II, ''Escenas románticas'' ( Erato Records) , , Grand Prix du Disque , , , - , 1974 , , Albéniz: ''Iberia'' ( Decca) , , Grand Prix du Disque , , , - , 1991 , , Granados: ''Goyescas'', ''Allegro De Concierto'', ''Danza Lenta'' ( RCA) , , Grand Prix du Disque , , , - , 1968 , , ? , , Edison Award , , , - , 1978 , , ? , , Edison Award , , , - , 1989 , , Albéniz: ''Iberia'' (Decca) , , Edison Award , , , - ,

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, , Albéniz: ''Iberia'' (Decca) , , Grammy Award , , , - ,

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, , Ravel: Concerto For Left Hand and Concerto For Piano in G; Faure: Fantaisie for piano and orchestra (Decca) , , Grammy Award , , , - ,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, , Albéniz: ''Iberia'', ''Navarra'', ''Suite Española'' (Decca) , , Grammy Award , , , - ,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, , Granados: ''Goyescas'', ''Allegro De Conicerto'', ''Danza Lenta'' (RCA), , Grammy Award , , , - , 1971 , , ? , , Records of the Year (London) , , , - , 1974 , , ? , , Records of the Year (London) , , , - , 1979 , , Granados: ''Goyescas'' (Decca) , , Deutsche Schallplattenpreis (Germany) , , , - , 1980 , , Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor (Decca) , , Franz Liszt Award ( Budapest) , , , - , 1994 , , Manuel de Falla and Xavier Montsalvatge: Piano Works (RCA) , , Japan Record Academy Award , , , - , 1978 , , — , , Musician of the Year - Musical America (magazine) , , , - , 1988 , , — , , Commander of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

, , , - , 1994 , , — , , Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts , , , - , 1995 , , — , , UNESCO Prize , , , - , 1961 , , — , , Paderewski Memorial Medal (London), , , -

Life and career

List of awards and nominations

References

External links