Alicia de Larrocha plays Albéniz - El Puerto & El Albaicín (1984 Live) 

Totally agree. This is playing at the highest level. Her daughter said she practiced incessantly and tons of slow practice.

Could not agree more.

Score fidelity is not that exact, but does this really matter ?

@@MathieuPrevot I suggest you read the score. Every accent and dynamic. And, yes, of course it matters.

@@henrigaziel2002 My comment is indeed based on the score.

@@MathieuPrevot No, it isn’t. You’re saying she’s not faithful to the score. And she plainly is. So you’re talking rubbish, for reasons that escape me.

@@henrigaziel2002 She is not fully faithful; eg., 4:50 etc, it's supposed to be pp, she is already mf, and then she ignores the sf; much later, instead of animato, she slows down (that's a big miss), often the accents are missing or not really here. I won't develop everything, but that's a fact. It's very good interpretation anyway.

@Music Man yes, she was an accomplished pianist with wide repertory and yes, Spanish music is what's usually considered as her ''ownership.'' According to D. Hurwitz some chauvinists (national and sex) couldn't accept a woman as a definitive performer of ''their'' music. She has performed (and spread) the magnificent Spanish music all across the world, bringing sun and images of her country to the cold and harsh places, geographically and politically. This is a musical healing of the greatest grade. Those who boast of ''owning'' some composer are usually too blind and deaf to understand what is true universal art devoid of political parochialism (English and their ''guarding'' of the image of Ralph Vaughan Williams where they keep silent about his passionate physical nature). She is an absolutely magnificent lady and a magnificent pianist.

​@@gorankatic40000bc Chauvinism and sexism are different things, but chauvinism is definitely not a reason of why she wasn't more recognized in Spain. Anyway, the recognition that she had in Spain was very great... ¿maybe it should be greater? Probably, but I would say that for almost every classical musician :D

@@gorankatic40000bc She was not the only one. Before her was Artur Rubinstein, who popularized De Falla, and Jose Iturbi. But in her time, she dominated, through powerful record companies and management, and their tendency to categorize artists and listeners. It was a big deal when she switched over to perform mostly Mozart. It did somewhat prove her ability, but it was disappointing, to say the least. Oddly, she did not venture into French repertoire.

Jose Iturbi, for one.

She could reach a tenth in the 1960s recordings.

Really? - Arrau was wrong then, he said she could hardly grasp an octave.

I’m sure Arrau was exaggerating, or using poetic licence. They knew and admired each other well. But the tenth is clearly heard in her recordings and she said so herself. I think, with age, it became less comfortable. But you can’t play her repertoire with barely ‘a seventh’, even with her genius. Can you imagine the Ravel left hand or Rachmaninoff second or third, the Brahms second, Iberia?! Impossible. An off the cuff remark from Arrau, meant as a great compliment, I’m sure.

He [Arrau] further said, that she did some special streching exercises to get her hands 'bigger' and more flexible. But fact is that although she had relatively small hands she played the piano wonderfully. I admire her a lot.

@@berlinzerberus So I believe. Every day. But I believe she had a long fifth finger, which greatly helped the stretch. The tenth is very securely there on her recordings. But, if you listen to the opening of the second Rachmaninoff from the 80s, she ‘musically’ manipulates the difficulty to magical effect. And live too. I agree with your admiration of her. She’s always been my favourite. There are very few musicians who have a uniform excellence in all repertoire from Bach to Bliss, Soler to Montsalvatge.

I will never forget the meetings with her many years ago, as she was so humble and couldn't accept a compliment from me...especially when I told her that her interpretation of the Chaconne gave me shivers up and down my spine!

According to some, it was he who influence Debussy, not the other way around. If you compare the figurations of his notes, you can see the same figures in Debussy.

@@nonenoneonenonenone Touché

I would love to know her practice habits and schedule.