Alicia de Larrocha and Ravel Left Hand Concerto

[pita bread]

She has tiny hands but still pulls off the Ravel Concerto for the Left Hand. Does anyone know how she executes the extremely wide-spanning arpeggios? Did she rescore it for two hands? Does she have a rigged piano?

[arensky]

She has tiny hands but still pulls off the Ravel Concerto for the Left Hand. Does anyone know how she executes the extremely wide-spanning arpeggios? Did she rescore it for two hands? Does she have a rigged piano?

She uses correct wrist technique because she has to in that her hands are small. I met her and shook her hand, and it was not large BUT it was very well developed and powerful, more so than most men's hands. If you listen to her closely you will hear many rolled chords, but they are rolled so quickly that you can barely tell. I've only ever heard one splice in her recordings (I have many of them she is one of my top 5 favorite pianists ever), in a particularly akward spot in the middle of "Lavapies" from Book III of Iberia. There is a video of her playing De Falla's "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" that shows very cleary how she manipulates the keyboard in post-Classical repertoire.

Big hands aren't everything; quick reflexes and correct use of upper body weight are more important for good playing than large hands. Listen to her Liszt Sonata! It's as good as anyone elses. And of course either of her complete "Iberia" recordings, 1962 or 1973, or the Mendelsohn Variations Serieuses or Chopin Preludes. No lack of power in those, although I think she is at her best in Classical and Spanish literature, and of course Ravel (a Spaniard by choice, or so he said..)