The diminutive Spanish pianist (four feet nine inches) died at the age of 86 in September 2009. Her repertoire extended from Bach to Rachmaninov but it is with Mozart and Spanish music that she is most fondly associated. Of Mozart’s last four piano concertos presented here, K503 and K595 were recorded in 1977 in the much-missed Kingsway Hall. This is their first international CD release. K491 and K537 (a concerto Larrocha first played aged 11) were recorded in Henry Wood Hall eight years later but never released. The reason, producer Michael Haas reveals, was “due to misgivings [by both artists] about the acoustics of the studio”. Twenty-five years later this issue has been addressed and if there are any infelicities as a result of using only an initial edit, they have escaped my ears. In fact the acoustics of both venues (have been made to?) sound remarkably similar.

As to the more important issue of the music-making, it would be a strange person indeed who did not submit to such warm-hearted, unmannered Mozart. Nothing is driven, there are no “misplaced ‘Beethovenian’ heroics” (Jeremy Siepmann in his notes) or distracting idiosyncrasies. Larrocha’s pearly toned, lightly pedalled touch and the way she can taper a phrase ending to resemble musical speech (try the opening of K491) make these accounts ones to live with.

The Falla programme is a reissue of the pianist’s 1973 Decca recording (Kingsway Hall again) rather than her harsh-sounding selection for Hispavox/EMI made in the late 1950s. Larrocha does not play the music as much as inhabit it. The Cuatro Piezas españolas, inspired by Albéniz’s Ibéria, are given peerless performances. It’s a wonder they are not better known. The fourth of them, “Andaluza”, aptly prefaces the Fantasia Baetica (“Baetica” being the Roman name for Andalusia). Composed for Arthur Rubinstein, who gave the premiere and then abandoned it, it is not the most gratefully written piece for two hands but its vibrant colours, astringent harmonies and piquant, ever-changing rhythms make it one of the most evocative of showpieces. The suites derived from Falla’s two ballet scores, ending with the “Ritual Fire Dance”, round off this shortish but exceptional disc.