Gauk Alexander
Gauk Alexander
Gauk, Alexander, Russian conductor, teacher, and composer; b. Odessa, Aug. 15, 1893; d. Moscow, March 30, 1963. He studied composition with Kalafati and Vitols, and conducting with N. Tcherepnin, at the Petro-grad Cons, (graduated, 1917); then conducted at the State Opera and Ballet Theater there (1920–31). He was chief conductor of the Leningrad Phil. (1930–34), the U.S.S.R. State Sym. Orch. of Moscow (1936–1), and the All-Union Radio Sym. Orch. of Moscow (1953–63). He also taught conducting at the conservatories of Lenin-grad (1927–33), Tbilisi (1941–3), and Moscow (1939–63). His pupils included such distinguished conductors as Mravinsky, Melik-Pashayev, Simeonov, and Svetlanov. He championed the music of Russian composers; restored Rachmaninoff’s 1st Sym. to the active Russian repertoire from orch. parts found in the archives of the Moscow Cons. He wrote a Sym., a Harp Concerto, a Piano Concerto, and songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire