PAST CONDUCTORS RECORDINGS: FIRST, LAST & BEST – LETTER G

First, Last and one of the best (in my opinion) recordings of main conductors from the past - One page per letter. Corrections are welcome. It is a work in progress.

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Lamberto Gardelli (1915-1998)

A pianist and composer, he will take Swedish citizenship. He had a wide range repertoire: baroque, symphonic, operatic though best known on record for operas.
One of his first recordings was Giovanni Pergolesi’s Il Maestro Di Musica (1955).
One of his last ones was a recital with  Giacomo Aragall (1998). A famous recording was Rossini’s Guillaume Tell.

First Best Last


Alexander Gauk (1893-1963)

A pupil of Tcherepnin and Glazunov, he stayed in USSR all his life. 
One of his first LP recordings was Aram Khachaturian’s Violin concerto with David Oistrakh (1948) and one of his last, Edouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole with the same Oistrakh (1962) (he accompanied most celeb Russian soloists: Neuhaus, Kogan, Gilels…). A good sample of his conducting is a “famous overtures” LP recorded in 1959.

First Best Last


Alexander Gibson (1926-1995)

First a pianist, he will be engaged as musical director of the Scottish National Orchestra for around 60 years. His first LP was called “Witches’ Brew”… (1958). One of his last one was dedicated to Sibelius music (1992). He was well known for his Sibelius interpretations.

First Best Last

Michael Gielen (1927-2019)

First a pianist and a composer, he will specialize in the 2nd Vienna school and contemporary music. One of his first LPs for Vox was Schubert’s Wanderer fantasy with Alfred Brendel. One of his last recordings was music from the late Stravinsky. He was famous for having recorded Zimmermann’s opera Die Soldaten.

First Best Last



Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005)

First a violinist, he will play the viola in an orchestra under such conductors as R. Strauss, Furtwangler or Walter. He will mainly record for EMI, then DGG and Sony. One of his first LPs was Alessandro Scarlatti’s II Trionfo Dell’Onore (1956), one of his last recordings was Schubert’s 4 & 8 in Munich. His Bruckner’s Ninth symphony recording in Vienna remains unsurpassed (1989).

First Best Last



Walter Goehr (1903-1960)

He was a German composer, arranger and conductor. After EMI, he recorded in a decade before his death for La Guilde internationale du disque. One of his first recording was Robert Schumann’s piano concerto with Mira Hess (1937). One of his last ones included musics by Gounod and Bizet. He accompanied many soloists, as Philippe Entremont in Rachmaninoff’s Second piano concerto (1957).

First Best Last


Nikolai Golovanov (1891-1953)

He was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor. One of his first LS was Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade (with Oistrakh as solo violin…) His Scriabin’s Poem of Extasy (Serguei Popov, trumpet solo) is almost as delirious as Svetlanov’s.

First Best Last


The public is worth to look at:


Vladimir Golschmann (1893-1972)

A French born violinist. He conducted then mostly the St Louis Symphony Orchestra. One of his first LPs was Rachmaninoff’s 2nd piano concerto with Arthur Rubinstein (1950).  One of his last was Bach’s keyboard concertos with Glenn Gould (1969). There is a fine LP with French ‘modern’ music (1954).

First Best Last



Eugene Goossens (1893-1962)

This violinist was born in London into a family of Belgian musicians. Almost as famous as composer and conductor.
His first 78 r.p.m. was Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker suite (1937). One of his last recordings included works by Respighi and Dukas (1962). But he conducted Fritz Kreisler in Bruch’s Violin concerto in 1925.

First Best Last


Morton Gould (1913-1962)

Pianist, composer and conductor. His first recording was dedicated to light music (1947). One of his last recordings was dedicated to his own music (1984). He made a vivid account of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Antar symphony (1968).

First Best Last


Charles Groves (1915-1992)

Pianist, he has mostly conducted in Great Britain. 
His first recording in Bournemouth included Beethoven’s 4th, Brahms’s Academic Festival Overture, and the suite From L’Arlésienne ‎by Bizet (1959).  A last one met the clarinetist Emma Johnson (1992). He recorded an interesting piano concerto by Constant Lambert.

First Best Last


Vittorio Gui (1885-1975)

Founded and was musical director of the Theatro di Torino in 1925. he conducted an extensive symphonic and operatic from memory.
One of his first opera recording was Verdi’s Nabucco with Maria Callas (1949), one of is last ones was excerpts from Rossini’s Barbier de Séville in Glydenbourne, with Victoria de Los Angeles (1966). A funny recording: several Casta Diva from Norma by Maria Callas, one with Gui.

First Best Last



2 thoughts on “PAST CONDUCTORS RECORDINGS: FIRST, LAST & BEST – LETTER G”

  1. Very interesting. Alexander Gibson very last recording Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 2 with Alexander Ardakov and Royal PO made in a hotel just a day or so before Gibson’s death. Maybe best forgotten. Two very good recordings with Groves Dvorák Symphony 6 with Royal PO and Schubert Unfinished in finished four movement version with Royal Liverpool PO. Lovely recording with Jean-Rodolp he Kars and London SO/ Gibson in Debussy Fantaisie and Delius Piano Concerto – perfect.

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