Spanish composer Óscar Esplá

Today's program features the music of Spanish composer Óscar Esplá (1886 - 1976). Born in Alicante, Esplá began studies in engineering, philosophy and literature at the University of Barcelona before switching to studying music. Among his teachers were Max Reger, in Munich and Meiningen, and Camille Saint-Saëns, in Paris. In 1911 Esplá won the Vienna Prize, awarded by the International Music Society, whose jury included Saint-Saëns and Richard Strauss. Óscar Esplá's "Sinfonía Aitana" was premiered in 1964 by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducting the Orquesta Nacional de España, and we hear a recording of the work by Frühbeck de Burgos and Spain's National Symphony Orchestra that was released in 1972 as a LP phonograph record.