Remembering de Larrocha's Mozart

[@dannydiyitang2180]

Met madam Larrocha and played for her in NYC back in 2004. Jerome Rose organized the meeting. The memory was incredible precious for me

[@waynesmith3767]

What I remember most of hearing her perform Mozart’s #24 is the absolute spiritual quality of her playing; we in the audience were hushed in awe when she finished and sat in silence for what seemed a long time ( probably really matter of seconds) and then the applause was tremendous and went on and on.

[@williamfredscott6904]

I had the great pleasure of conducting Mme de Larrocha in the 21st concerto with Atlanta Symphony many years ago. A fine experience it was for all of us! Does anybody remember Lili Kraus anymore? She was also such a fine Mozartean.

[@dannydiyitang2180]

Yes, of course, she was another fine Mozart interpreter. I use Lili Kraus's own Mozart cadenza too

[@stevecook8934]

Great Scott! 😊

[@karenbryan132]

My college radio station used to live in the basement of the campus concert hall. I was there one day, going about my business, when I heard somebody playing the piano up on the stage. It was Chopin's Barcarolle, a favorite of mine, so I silently climbed up the spiral staircase to see who it was. Wow. It was Alicia DeLarrocha, who was giving a recital the next evening. One of my sweetest memories.

[@fulltongrace7899]

When I was a young piano student at the American Conservatory of Chicago in the early 70s, I was learning some Mozart piano sonatas and my teacher recommended I listen to Alicia de La Roccha and study her style. A wonderful introduction to these musical treasures.

[@stevecook8934]

She was a great artist. A program featuring her in Mozart 27 and de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain is one of my favorite concert memories.

[@pautabrasileira]

Thank you, Dave, I almost forgot she was an extraordinary Mozart's interpreter. Larrocha - besides a flawless pianist (impeccable rhythm and articulation), a superlative musician. musician

[@mancal5829]

Her Mozart is beautiful. Thank you so much for reminding us!

[@JohnGavin-hz9bc]

She was wonderful in every way. Sincerely, I loved every one of her recordings without exception. She was one of those rare performers who could automatically turn a second rate composition into a first rate one. Example- listen to her Allegro de Concierto by Granados on EMI and then listen to anyone else’s recording, and you’ll hear the difference instantly. She is sorely missed.

[@dennischiapello7243]

It must have been fairly close to the end of her life (86 years long) that she recorded and went on tour with Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand (which I was lucky enough to see here in Phoenix.) The lady had balls!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I saw her do that as well, along with Nights in the Gardens of Spain and the Haydn D Major concerto (separately concert!). She's had lost a little in dynamic range but her technique was amazingly intact and her stamina impressive.

[@timothyweir8790]

Her Mozart concertos recorded with Colin Davis stand alongside those by Perahia, Schiff, Uchida, Serkin, Curson, Haskil and others. A "first-rate partial clump," to quote you here.

[@robinraianiemi4030]

I randomly picked up one of these CDs in a record store’s new releases section. And I realized that this was something very special. They’re glorious.

[@mhc2231]

Thanks for this talk -- Larrocha is an artist who really shouldn't fall by the wayside. I really love that sonata & concerto for 2 pianos CD by Larrocha/ Previn. Absolutely delightful. I'll give the concertos a listen right away. And BTW, Moravec also did an incomplete set of Mozart concertos that's worth a listen for sure.

[@Michlag]

That piano concertos are a secret treasure I keep for myself 😅

[@pabloc154]

So happy you did this video. Such a wonderful pianist and she’s almost forgotten.

[@tombloomfield4784]

Thank you Dave. I have a good few recordings of her Spanish piano music and will look her up. Currently I have a crush on Maria João Pires who I have seen play Beethoven’s 3rd. She does have a reputation for Mozart.

[@adamfrye246]

Collie's accompaniments are Beetovenian which adds beneficial weight the same as we say in Haydn Symphonies. Intense lyrical phrasing compensates for any loss of elegance, imo. My favorites of her versions are 19, 22, 24, 26 & 27.

[@socratez]

I have the Decca box and the Warner Icon box but we need a Sony box!

[@xavierotazu5805]

She also has (with Chailly) the Beethoven piano concertos. A really nice underrated version.

[@glengoogling7597]

The set is wonderful and the cadenza she selected in the 4th concerto by romantic composer Carl Reinecke is fabulous!

[@kend.6797]

Thank you for this! I had the distinct pleasure of hearing Alicia de Larrocha perform Mozart live in concert in the early 90's, and it is something I will always remember. If she is not top of mind for some people, it may be because all the fiery, explosive virtuosos out on the circuit suck up all the limelight. That wasn't de Larrocha's style, and thank God for that! We really need a complete RCA box (to go with the complete Decca box that came out years ago now).

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

She used to give a masterclass in which she talked about how to play Rachmaninoff with tiny hands.

[@bloodgrss]

As a young marketing guy, I got to meet her near the end of her life. What a privilege. The cake does not need icing...

[@bbailey7818]

I'd guess that RCA didn't have Larrocha do the other "teen" concertos because they also had the superb set of 14-19 that Peter Serkin did with Schneider and the ECO (which you mentioned.) That's another most worthwhile RCA box which also has papa Setkin in No. 10, choice sonatas, quintets, Fantasia, etc.

[@caleblaw3497]

de Larrocha's Mozart sonatas and concertos are my personal "reference recordings" for Mozart piano works. I wish she would have done a complete piano concerto cycle. I like her RCA recordings better than her Decca recordings. Another under-the-radar Mozart discs are the Hungaroton recordings with Zoltan Kocsis and Deszo Ranki. I really like those Hungaroton recordings and I hope they will be reissued

[@rolandonavarro3170]

Dear Hurwitz: Agree 100%

[@michelangelomulieri5134]

Her memorable Mozart piano concertos were those she recorded earlier for decca…in my opinion

[@jeffreylevy1108]

The first time I heard De Larrocha Mozart I was hooked and got all of it. While I really enjoy De Larrocha now, I did not really appreciate Mozart solo sonatas until I heard Claudio Arrau. He added a "romantic grandeur". Gould, who did not like the sonatas, and some say distorted them, managed to bring out things that held my attention. The concertos are different for me....I enjoy almost every recording that made it to cd, even those on rotten fort pianos.

[@leeturner1202]

I have listened to a lot of music in my day, but somehow missed these recordings. I will definitely check them out. Another Mozart Concerto Clump I have enjoyed was with Robert Casadesus and George Szell. I'm not sure if they are available currently. I did find a Sony box listed on Amazon, but only available from a second hand dealer.

[@leedsleeds8091]

RCA should do the decent thing and issue a complete edition of everything she recorded for Sony/RCA.

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

I tend to have more partial clumps than whole shebangys. More gems for my Dave's Lexicographic Cabinet of Curious Delights.

[@leestamm3187]

Partial clumps are better than none, particularly for great artists like this one.

[@robhaynes4410]

How's this for a Mozart specialist who no one talks about anymore: Mitsuko Uchida. I'm not a Mozart person, so I can't say whether she deserves to be forgotten, but she was all over the place in the 80s & 90s. Now, I never hear her name.

[@charlieclark983]

She played Mozart sonatas at Carnegie Hall a few years ago. Not gone, not forgotten, thank God.

[@robhaynes4410]

@@Ziad3195 I love music from literally every era from Hildegard through the present. I adore Haydn. Mozart just never grabbed me. 🤷‍♂️

[@robhaynes4410]

@@charlieclark983 I should say that I adore her Debussy. But I just don't hear about her anymore. I don't remember Dave mentioning her even once.

[@salocindejuan9648]

I had the privilege of turning her the pages during the rehearsals of "Una noche en los Jardines de España" with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional in Buenos Aires, 1975. She had such a good mood and incredible enthusiasm.

[@Janaceks_Dad]

I LOVE AdL over every other pianist, past or present, but IMO her Mozart RCA recordings sound a bit stiff and uninspired to me; when she got around to recording the cycle, her best playing was behind her…by contrast, the Mozart she recorded for DECCA are knockout performances (and her concert Mozart performances on YT--are even finer still, even with subpar sound). She was a class act.

[@tortuedelanuit2299]

I hope you talk about the powerful, revelatory, nearly lost Gulda Mozart sonata tapes, basically made in his basement.