Gauk 125th Anniversary

THE MOSCOW RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA GAUK

Firma Melodiya presents an album dedicated to Alexander Gauk’s 125th anniversary. The musician of a versatile gift whose repertoire included over 500 works in the symphonic, opera, ballet, cantata/oratorio and concerto genres; the first director of this country’s principal symphony orchestra – the USSR State Symphony; the teacher who educated some of the leading domestic conductors of the previous century; the master of orchestration who gave many of the piano and chamber works new concert interpretations; the publicist and author of memoirs, articles and reviews – it is hardly an exaggeration to say that Alexander Gauk was one of the creators of domestic music culture of the twentieth century. While the first disc dedicated to Alexander Gauk’s art included the works of Sergei Taneyev and Sergei Rachmaninoff, this set allows us to hear him as a bright interpreter of romantic music. When Gauk was young, he was fortunate to listen to some of the best European performers and thought he was a successor of Arthur Nikisch’s conducting tradition. The double album comprises works of Franz Liszt (Faust Symphony and Fantasy on Motifs from Beethoven's The Ruins of Athens), Richard Strauss (the symphonic poem Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks), Paul Dukas (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) and Claude Debussy (dances for harp and orchestra). The recordings were made by the Grand Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio, with which Gauk worked for many years, featuring the outstanding musicians – the pianist Grigory Ginsburg and the harpist and veteran Bolshoi soloist Vera Dulova.

Price: $39.98