Alicia de Larrocha; pianist played here

MADRID - Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha, 86, who thrilled listeners for decades with polished and enthralling interpretations of great classical works and Spanish masters, has died.

Measuring just under 5 feet tall, and with unusually small hands for a piano virtuoso, Ms. de Larrocha won listeners over with her rich, robust sound.

Critically acclaimed for her technique in performing Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Rachmaninoff, she was also seen as unrivaled in her interpretation of such Spanish composers as Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados and Isaac Albeniz.

Gregor Benko, a piano music expert, music producer and friend, confirmed her death. Benko said she had been in poor health for several years and died late Friday in her native Barcelona.

Ms. de Larrocha retired from public performances in 2003 after 75 years as a professional pianist.

Born May 23, 1923, she began playing piano at the age of 3, and two years later gave her debut public performance during the International Exposition in Barcelona. Four years later an eager music industry pressed and marketed her first record.

The daughter and niece of pianists, as a child she studied with renowned teachers such as Frank Marshall, himself a disciple of the pianist Enrique Granados, and theorist Ricardo Lamote de Grignon. She was invited to play at Barcelona's Palau de la Musica when only 6, and by 11 was already a soloist with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra.

By the time she was 20, she was playing to full houses around Spain, displaying a style and skill that transcended her age. In 1947 she began to make an impression on the European circuit, and was soon playing all the major musical centers.

Ms. de Larrocha's style combined poetic interpretation, grace and subtlety with technical virtuosity and remarkable focus, which enabled her to produce a beautifully layered sound capable of grand, temperamental flourishes.

She made her first U.S. visit in 1955 and toured with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It was this tour that gained her recognition as one of the world's outstanding pianists. Heard regularly in Philadelphia during the 1980s and '90s, she was fixture at New York's Lincoln Center, in its Mostly Mozart Festival and interpreters series.

Married to the late Spanish pianist Juan Torra, she had two children.