An extraordinary discovery makes it possible to locate and digitise two discs from the Orquestra Simfònica of Ràdio Associació from 1938
Data de publicació: 08-09-2026
Ràdio Associació de Catalunya have recovered and digitised two discs from the Pich Santasusana family archive. The discs were recorded in 1938 by the Orquestra Simfònica of the EAJ15-Ràdio Associació station, at a time when the the orchestra’s principal conductor was Mestre Joan Pich Santasusana. The finding is exceptional, both because the recordings were made when the Spanish Civil War had just broken out and because the station's sound archive disappeared once Franco’s troops entered Barcelona, at the end of the war. The quality of the sound is poor but the thrill of hearing the power of the symphony orchestra outweighs the limitations of the discs.
The recovery of the historical memory of Ràdio Associació de Catalunya has taken another step forward. The Pich Santasusana family has located two 10”, double-sided, 78 rpm acetate discs. The discs were badly damaged and it was only possible to recover a part of them, nevertheless the value of these recordings lies in their ability to connect with the splendour of a radio station that boasted a major symphony orchestra, which grew to include 40 musicians.
Another exceptional aspect of these recordings is that they show a practice from the past: the use of discs to record political speeches at a time of social upheal and wartime propaganda. The broadcaster Teodor Garriga explains this in his memoirs book “La meva vida i Ràdio Associació” where he describes how the disc-recording machine enabled him to record speeches from personalities from both sides of the conflict -ones to study them, and the others to reproduce them-, and how he had made use of it in his own benefit in many compromised situations “because everybody wanted to see it and mostly to talk in it.“ Precisely it is in these memoirs that Garriga exposes a list of recordings: Companys, Tarradellas, Pi i Sunyer, Frederica Montseny....Manuel Azaña, Negrín.... and the High Commissioner Osorio i Tafall ... whose voice appears in one of the located recordings.
The contents and the condition of the discs is the following:
• DISC 1
o SIDE A. Ifigenia in Aülis, of Gluck (5’15”). It is the most well-preserved side at all levels and consequently it is the one that sounds best, with the strength of the symphony. In the disc, unfinished piece.
Original audio of the disc: https://youtu.be/9KDjqsjaUYI
Treated audio without noise: https://youtu.be/I5aSBKz5z-E
o SIDE B. Serenata Española –Càdiz, d’Issac Albèniz, (2’28”) It is the one in the worst condition of all. What could be saved has been saved.
Original audio of the disc: https://youtube.com/shorts/066cvlm5UiY
• DISC 2:
o SIDE A. Maruxa, d’Antoni Vives. (3’20”) The musical contents can be Heard at the beginning of the recording but as the disc goes by the noise level increases in front of the level of the music.
Original audio of the disc: https://youtu.be/F1ttd2t5AN4
Treated audio without noise: https://youtu.be/J2nB52I3D4Y
o SIDE B. (2’49”) Bibiano Fernández Osorio y Tafall Speech (in Spanish). It is the most preserved side of the disc. This side of the first acetate disc wasn’t labelled – it was impossible to know the contents in advance- and, in fact, it was deliberately scratched by the technicians of RAC. Nevertheless, still it is possible to read, against the light, the following, chiselled onto the recorded grooves: "BAD DISC TO BE DISCARDED, SAVE THE OTHER SIDE WHICH IS GOOD". The beginning of this side -which starts with a fragment of the "Himno de Riego"- couldn’t be completely preserved, but one can listen: "Comisario General Camarada del Ejército de Tierra Osorio Tafall", followed by a nearly complete fragment of a speech from Bibiano Fernández Osorio y Tafall (Pontevedra 1902- Mèxic DF 1990). We know that Teodor Garriga recorded it. It could be that the one announcing the speech is his voice (most certainly), even though it could also be that it was the voice of the announcer in charge of reading one of the speeches. It is a parliament that mentions the defence of Madrid and Catalunya, about the 22 months of already suffered war and exalts the people to fight fascism.
Original audio of the disc: https://youtube.com/shorts/fAcuMZBDKHM
Treated audio without noise: https://youtube.com/shorts/Sfbn_-YjS1Q
Special thanks are due to Joan Maria Pich Escrihuela, to Joan Francesc Escrihuela and to Enric Giné de Tasso -Laboratori de so-, for his contribution to the recovery of the discs.
The commitment of the radio broadcasting pioneers for musical quality
When, in 1924 the “Associació Nacional de Radiodifusió” -which in 1933 changed his name to “Ràdio Associació de Catalunya”- launched EAJ1-Ràdio Barcelona it became clear the boost of the station as a democratic force in the culture. Thus, one of the first major exclusives would be the broadcasting of complete operas from the Liceu, something no other radio station in the world was doing at the time.
The musical aspect was a priority in the station’s programming and training was essential. EAJ1 soon went from having a quintet to having an orchestra of 9 musicians and 1 director.
On the year 1929 the relationship with EAJ1 came to an end and a new station, EAJ15-Ràdio Associació, was created. The passion remained the same, as the founders of ANR were behind the new project. It began with an orchestra of 7 musicians, then 9, and 14, until, by 1935 the Orquestra Simfònica de RAC had 40 musicians. It was an ensemble that performed both in the studio and at the major festivals organised by the station as part of its outdoor events, often featuring some of the leading musical figures of the time. To fully understand the high level of this orchestra one could have a look at the profile of its musicians, like the concertmaster who was the musician Enric Casals, brother of Pau Casals.
As artistic directors of the ANR broadcasting projects or orchestra conductors, great masters such as Baltasar Samper, Joaquim Serra, Ramon Gorgué, Antoni Català, Francesc Palos, or Joan Pich Santasusana have passed through.
Joan Pich Santasusana (1911–1999) was a cellist, composer, educator and conductor of the Orquestra Simfònica de Ràdio Associació from late 1936 until January 1939. He combined this role with directing the Institut Orquestral de l’Associació Obrera de Concerts and the Estudis Musicals Blanca Selva, both within the same workers’ association founded by Pau Casals. In the post-war period, Pich became principal conductor of the Barcelona Philharmonic Orchestra (1943), the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (1944), the Philharmonic Orchestra of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (1945), and the Spanish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (RNE) in Madrid (1948), as well as the Barcelona Municipal Band (1957). In 1968, he was appointed director of the Municipal Higher Conservatory of Music of Barcelona, a position he held until his retirement.
One of the last great public concerts of the Orquestra Simfònica de Ràdio Associació conducted by Master Pich was on the 18th of December of 1938, at the Teatre Olympia, which was the 7th EAJ15 broadcast with a live audience. But the last concert was on the 21st of January of 1939, broadcast live, as usual, from the Ràdio Associació studio, as it is shown in the attached log labelled Image num. 7. Pich programmed a suite by Giulio De Micheli with a tempo labelled, FINAL!. He must have sensed that it was the end — both for the Ràdio Associació Orchestra and for the Republic.
The majority of these broadcast logs/records are signed by the broadcast director Amadeu Serch, some of them by the broadcaster Francina Boris and some others by other members of the station. In the log correponding to the first 100 concerts coducted by Pich Santasusana that is attached as Image num. 8, there is an inscription from Francina Boris herself that reads: 'I sincerely congratulate you on the centenary of the concerts you have conducted on our station.'
A total 187 concerts were conducted from the studio by J. Pich Santasuna, leading the Orquestra Simfònica of RAC, in addition to the other live audience broadcasted concerts in theatres and festivals, from which no total is currently known.
Photography captions:
1.- Joan Pich Santasusana (Archive Pich Santasusana)
2.- Images of the digitalized discs
3.- Advertisement from “L’Instant” that shows an Orquestra Simfònica de RAC event. 25/02/1935
4.- The tenor Hipòlit Lázaro with the Orquestra RAC. Fons Brangulí /ANC
5.- Image of the Orquestra Simfònica de RAC from EAJ15 control desk. Fons Brangulí /ANC
6.- Log of the 7th live audience broadcast. 18/12/1938. (Archive Pich Santasusana)
7.- Log of the last concert of the Orquestra Simfònica de RAC. 21/01/1939 (Archive Pich Santasusana)
8.- Log of the inscription from broadcaster Francina Boris on the occasion of the concert num. 100. (Archive Pich Santasusana)