ESTONIAN SYMPHONIC MUSIC. THE FIRST CENTURY 1896-1996.
was a need to be active in several other fields: Director and Professor of the Tallinn
Conservatoire (1933-1940 and 1941-1944); Chairman of the Estonian Singers’ League;
member of the management of the Academic Society of Estonian Musicians, and
several other occupations.
His repertoire as a conductor included symphonies of Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin and Glazunov, works by Richard Strauss, Wagner,
Grieg, Rimsky-Korsakov and others. Vocal-symphonic works: the Requiems of Mozart
and Cherubini; The Creation by Haydn, St. Paul by Mendelssohn and several others. As
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Õhtuleht 9 Sept. 1997.
an opera conductor he conducted Tannhäuser by Wagner, Othello by Verdi, Prince Igor
by Borodin, etc.
Aavik as a conductor was appreciated due to his quiet character, politeness to all
with whom he had to work with and his attention to details. At the same time he was
also criticised by Gerhard Krause, the reporter of the Berlin weekly Signale. Staying in