GREAT RECORDINGS phase 16

ALBÉNIZ: IBERIA
GRANADOS: GOYESCAS
Alicia de Larrocha

3 61514 2
(Angel: 3 61515 2) (2CDs)
Recorded 1959, 1962 & 1963
Stereo/ADD
145 minutes

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Complete technical assurance in these extremely demanding works has now been taken for granted and Alicia de Larrocha isn’t unique in mastering their terrors, but though there have been other distinguished interpreters, her readings have consistently remained the touchstone and her playing of this music is never less than masterly.’
(The Gramophone)
Diapason d’Or, France

One of the greatest of late 20th-century pianists and certainly the most celebrated of all modern Spanish players, Alicia de Larrocha (born in Barcelona in 1923) became virtually synonymous with the music of two composers: her compatriots Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909) and Enrique Granados (1867–1916).

No pianist has equalled let alone excelled her in the twin peaks of Spanish Romantic pianism brought together in this 2-CD set: Iberia (Albéniz’s vivid ‘impressions’ of the sounds and rhythms of his homeland) and Goyescas (Granados’s ‘Goya-like pictures’ of ‘youth in love’).

Alicia de Larrocha recorded these works more than once, yet her earliest complete recordings – made originally by Hispavox, issued on LP by Erato and then on CD in 1992 by EMI Spain – rank among her greatest achievements and were made at a time – the late 1950s and early 60s – when she was a still young virtuoso pianist able to meet every outsize demand made by these scores.