Classical Musician. From a 75-year professional career, she shall probably be best remembered as an interpreter of the works of Mozart, and as a champion of Spanish composers. Born Alicia de Larrocha de la Calle into a musical family, she showed an early affinity for the piano, able even as a toddler to imitate what her aunt's students played. At three, she demanded lessons by banging her head on the floor; a reluctant Frank Marshall accepted her, and was to be her only teacher. Miss de Larrocha made her concert debut at five in Barcelona, performing pieces by Bach and Mozart; she made her initial records at nine (at the urging of famed mezzo Conchita Supervia), preserving two short Chopin selections. Forced to study on her own after Marshall fled Spain in 1936, she resumed work with him in 1939, eventually taking over his school when he died in 1959. Always known for grace and style rather than flash (her 4'9" stature and innate shyness precluded fireworks), she was still quite capible of rousing interpretations of the concertos of Franz Liszt and Sergei Rachmaninoff. While maintaining her affinity for Bach, Mozart, and Scarletti, Miss de Larrocha perhaps left her biggest impact by making Spanish composers known to a wider audience; her recordings of Albenez "Iberia" and Granados' "Goyescas" are considered definitive. Further, she almost single handedly built a reputation for Catalan composer Federico Mompou. Miss de Larrocha confined herself to Spain until touring Geneva, Brussels, and Paris in 1947; her American debut came with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1955; she played New York's Town Hall the same year, and became a New York regular after 1965. She was to continue her association with the Mostly Mozart Festival of Lincoln Center thru 2003. Frequently busy in the studio, Miss de Larrocha finally recorded the complete Beethoven cycle (with Riccardo Chailly) in 1986, showing the master in somewhat different light from that usually seen. She was married once, to pianist Juan Torra, from 1958 until his death in 1982. Her final Carnegie Hall concert came in 2002, and she retired in 2003. Miss de Larrocha died after being in failing health since a hip fracture two years ago, leaving a massive recorded legacy with multiple Grammy Awards. Interestingly, she steadfastly refused to name a favorite composer, saying simply: "I don't believe there is a 'best' of anything in this life."