Composer: Claude Achille Debussy, Paul Dukas, Ferencz Liszt, Richard Strauss
Performer: Boris Afanasiev, Vera Dulova, Grigory Ginsburg
Orchestra: Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Alexander Gauk
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Melodiya
Catalogue: MELCD1002496
Release: 1958, 1960, 1966, 1976/2018
Size: 474 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
CD 01
01. Strauss: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28
02. Debussy: Danse sacrée et danse profane, L. 103
03. Dukas: L’Apprenti sorcier
04. Liszt: Fantasie über Motive aus Beethovens Ruinen von Athen, S. 122
CD 02
Liszt: Faust Symphony, S. 108
01. I. Faust
02. II. Gretchen
03. III. Mephistopheles
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 Orchestra; 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 memoires, 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 German romantic music. When Gauk was young, he was fortunate to listen to some of the best German conductors and thought he was a successor of Arthur Nikisch’s conducting tradition.
The album comprises works of Franz Liszt (Faust Symphony and Fantasy on Motifs from Beethoven’s The Ruins of Athens) and Richard Strauss (Horn Concerto No. 1, Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks and Domestic Symphony). The recordings were made by the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, with which Gauk worked for many years, featuring the outstanding pianist Grigory Ginsburg and young and talented French horn player, prize-winner of international competitions Boris Afanasiev.