Alicia de Larrocha – The First Recordings - Eloquence: ELQ4821546 - 3 CDs

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... — Gramophone Magazine, December 1955 More…

Release Date: 2nd Jun 2017
Catalogue No: ELQ4821546
Label: Eloquence
Length: 3 hours 46 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Esplá: Sonata Espanola, Op. 53

Work length15:29

Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Recorded: 1956-03-28
Recording Venue: Pythian Temple Studios, New York City

1. Andante romantico

Track length6:59

2. Mazurka sopra un tema popolare

Track length2:48

3. Allegro brioso

Track length5:42

Rodrigo: Danzas de Espana

Work length5:08

Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Recorded: 1956-03-28
Recording Venue: Pythian Temple Studios, New York City

4. Rustico

Track length1:33

5. Danza de la Tres Doncellas

Track length2:06

6. Serrana

Track length1:29

Granados: Danzas españolas, Op. 37 Nos. 1-12

Work length52:03

Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Recorded: 1954-11-17
Recording Venue: Pythian Temple Studios, New York City

7. No. 1 In G

Track length2:44

8. No. 2 In C Minor

Track length4:29

9. No. 3 In D

Track length3:34

10. No. 4 In G

Track length5:19

11. No. 5 In E Minor

Track length4:15

12. No. 6 In D

Track length3:39

13. No. 7 In G

Track length4:42

14. No. 8 In C

Track length3:32

15. No. 9 In B Flat

Track length4:53

16. No. 10 In G

Track length4:19

17. No. 11 In G Minor

Track length5:12

18. No. 12 In A Minor

Track length5:25

Turina: Danzas fantásticas, Op. 22

Work length15:34

Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Recorded: 1953-11-03
Recording Venue: Unknown, Bilbao

1. Exaltación

Track length4:42

2. Ensueño

Track length5:47

3. Orgía

Track length5:05

Turina: Preludios, Op.80 (Ciclo pianistico, VII)

Work length10:30

Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Recorded: 1953-11-03
Recording Venue: Unknown, Bilbao

1. Adagio

Track length3:22

2. Allegretto

Track length2:00

3. Allegro giusto

Track length1:15

4. Allegretto

Track length1:24

5. Adagio - Allegro vivo

Track length2:29

Turina: Souvenirs de l’Ancienne Espagne, Op. 48

Work length14:22

Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Recorded: 1953-11-03
Recording Venue: Unknown, Bilbao

1. La eterna Carmen

Track length3:13

2. Habanera

Track length3:49

3. Don Juan

Track length4:10

4. Estudiantina

Track length3:10

Turina: Partita, Op. 57

Work length11:42

Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Recorded: 1953-11-03
Recording Venue: Unknown, Bilbao

1. Preludio

Track length2:38

2. Zarabanda

Track length4:22

3. Capricho

Track length1:36

4. Introducción y giga

Track length3:06

Granados: Escenas romanticas

Work length25:55

Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Recorded: 1956-01-11
Recording Venue: New York

1. Mazurka

Track length6:09

2. Berceuse

Track length3:04

3. Lento con extasis

Track length5:26

4. Allegretto

Track length1:00

5. Allegretto appassionato

Track length7:53

6. Epilogo: Andantino spianato

Track length2:23

Granados: Goyescas (piano suite)

Work length58:44

Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Recorded: 1955-05-01
Recording Venue: Unknown

1. Los requiebros

Track length9:00

2. Coloquio en la reja

Track length11:18

3. El Fandango del Candil

Track length5:29

4. Quejas ó la maja y el ruiseñor

Track length6:46

5. El amor y la muerte (Balada)

Track length13:32

6. Epilogo (Serenata del espectro)

Track length7:58

7. El pelele (Escena goyesca)

Track length4:41

Mompou: Impresiones Intimas

Work length17:24

Alicia de Larrocha (piano)
Recorded: 1955
Recording Venue: Unknown

1. Planys I

Track length1:07

2. Planys II

Track length2:00

3. Planys III

Track length1:03

4. Planys IV

Track length1:27

5. Pajaro triste

Track length1:39

6. La barca

Track length1:39

7. Cuna

Track length2:48

8. Secreto

Track length2:37

9. Gitano

Track length3:04

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About

A series of reissues on Eloquence (see www.eloquenceclassics.com) has served to remind listeners around the world of the mastery of Alicia de Larrocha in repertoire ranging far beyond her native Spain, from Bach to Rachmaninov (including the Third Concerto with the LSO and André Previn, newly available on 482 0725). However, as Fanfare magazine noted in 1990, ‘her dominance of Spanish piano music recordings over the last thirty years has put her in the position where her most formidable competition is usually herself’.

That dominance began with recordings – Larrocha’s first – made in New York by American Decca during 1954–55. These are now reissued collectively on CD. They include many of the classics of the Spanish piano repertoire: the Danzas Españolas and Goyescas of Granados, Danzas fantásticas of Turina and Danzas de España of Rodrigo principal among them.

In later recordings de Larrocha would go on to refine certain details, but the seamless legato, sparkling fingerwork and unmatched evocation of mood were there from the beginning, as critics were not slow to recognize: when the Goyescas were first issued in October 1955, Gramophone magazine proclaimed that of the five available recordings, ‘honours go to Decca’s Alicia de Larrocha, one with style, technique and colour.’ In August the following year, Lionel Salter observed of the same recordings that ‘her technique is impeccable and sparkling, and articulation faultlessly clear-cut: Miss Larrocha has abundant vitality and, in El Pelele, clearly, fantasy too’.

De Larrocha herself was a reluctant recording artist. ‘The personal sound of the artist becomes lost, and without that, there is nothing,’ she remarked: a testament to the perfectionist temperament recalled in a specially written tribute for the booklet of this release by the pianist’s daughter, Alicia Torra. She goes on to note that of the five composers who appear in this set, her mother personally met four of them: Turina, Esplá, Rodrigo and especially Mompou, with whom she maintained a close friendship. In fact it was her playing of the fifth, Granados, that dazzled early listeners such as the American critic Harold C. Schonberg: ‘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.’

The booklet also includes rare photographs and a manuscript autographed by Turina himself for the little Alicia.

‘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, December 1955 (Turina)

Reviews

December 1955

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.

Alicia de Larrocha – The First Recordings

3 CDs

Contents

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