The great Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha died on the 25th of September at the age of 86. She could play the piano from an early age although the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 prevented her from pursuing her chosen career as a concert pianist. Although she was able to resume her performances after the end of the Civil War, the Second World War again hindered her in playing abroad.

In 1947 she finally began to play recitals outside of her home country but her greatest coup came in 1953 when she toured the USA with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Alfred Wallenstein. The success of this tour catapulted Larrocha into the first rank of pianists of her era.

At the start of her career Larrocha was known for her performances of the central repertoire rather than her interpretations of Spanish composers, which would later be one of her chief raision d’etre’s in the recording studio. This needs to be remembered as Larrocha can easily be pigeonholed as a Spanish pianist who played Spanish music rather than a pianist whose brilliant musicianship was equally at home in Mozart and Schumann for example.

Nevertheless it must be said that Alicia de Larrocha will forever be linked with her peerless interpretations of the Spanish repertoire. Above all, her performances and recordings of the music of Isaac Albeniz are perhaps her greatest legacy to music. She made a number of complete recordings of Albeniz’s piano masterpiece, Iberia, once for EMI (1962) and twice for Decca - an earlier analogue recording from 1972 and in the 1980s a digital version. In terms of sonic representation the later digital recording is obviously the finest; although Larrocha or Albeniz fans will want all three.

In addition Alicia de Larrocha also recorded music by de Falla, Granados, Khachaturian, Ravel and Franck amongst many others. The Art of Alicia de Larrocha is a superb overview of her Decca career.

During Larrocha career’s long and distinguished career, she recieved inumerable plaudits and many awards. She toured tirelessly all over the world and only retired at the age of 80 in 2003. The piano world has lost a most beloved artist and through her recordings her reputation as one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century is assured.