Ladislav Slovák (10 September 1919,

Veľké Leváre Veľké Leváre ( hu, Nagylévárd, Nagy-Lévárd, german: Gross-Schützen, Großschützen) is a village and municipality in western Slovakia in Malacky District in the Bratislava region. The first written notice about the village has its origins ...

– 22 July 1999,

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

) was a Slovak conductor. He was a long-time director of the

Slovak Philharmonic The Slovak Philharmonic or Slovak State Philharmonic (Slovenská filharmónia) is a Slovak symphony orchestra based in Bratislava. Founded in 1949, the orchestra has resided since the 1950s in the Baroque era Reduta Bratislava concert hall constr ...

, taking over the job from his teacher and mentor

Václav Talich Václav Talich (; 28 May 1883, Kroměříž – 16 March 1961, Beroun) was a Czech violinist and later a musical pedagogue. He is remembered today as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, the object of countless reissues of his man ...

. Amongst his most important recordings is the entire collection of

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

's fifteen symphonies with

Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra ( sk, Symfonický orchester Slovenského rozhlasu, link=no), previously known as Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and CSR Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony radio orchestra based in Bratislava, Slovakia. Fo ...

, published by

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

. He studied in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

under the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n conductor

Yevgeny Mravinsky Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Mravinsky (russian: Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Мрави́нский) (19 January 1988) was a Russian conductor, pianist, and music pedagogue; he was a professor at Leningrad State Conservatory. Biog ...

, and met Shostakovich while participating in rehearsals of his music. From 1990 until 1995, Slovák recorded all twelve symphonies by

Alexander Moyzes Alexander Moyzes (4 September 1906 – 20 November 1984) was a Slovak neoromantic composer. Biography Moyzes was born into a musical family in 1906 at Kláštor pod Znievom, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was the composer and educato ...

for the Marco Polo label of

. These recordings were re-released between 2018 and 2019 on the Naxos label. Slovák's daughter, Kamila Magálová, is one of Slovakia's best-known theatre actresses and a member of the

Slovak National Theatre The Slovak National Theater ( sk, Slovenské národné divadlo, abbr. SND) is the oldest professional theatre in Slovakia, consisting of three ensembles: opera, ballet, and drama. Its history begins shortly after the establishment of the first ...

. His son Marián Slovák is also an actor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slovak, Ladislav 1919 births 1999 deaths Slovak conductors (music) Male conductors (music) 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century male musicians