Stokowski conducts Nielsen Symphony No. 2 "The Four Temperaments" (re-mastered)

Carl Nielsen's 2nd Symphony was inspired by a painting he once saw in a village inn when on a visit to Zealand, an island off the coast of Denmark. The picture consisted of four coloured squares, the appropriate titles of which each depicted a "temperament": "The Choleric"; "The Phlegmatic"; "The Melancholic" and "The Sanguine."
Leopold Stokowski was probably alone among the great 20th-century maestros who insisted on conducting music of the country he was visiting during his annual foreign tours. Often he played such music just once to mark the occasion and this occurred on his visit to Copenhagen in 1967. In the Odd-Fellow Concert Hall on 4 August, he conducted the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Nielsen's 2nd Symphony for the only time in his life. Happily the performance was filmed for television and is presented here. It will be noted that he received a standing ovation from both orchestra and audience when he came onto the platform.
The Danish critics were full of praise for Stokowski's view of the work. "It was simply a matter of a great conductor taking Carl Nielsen's score quite seriously and revealing the straw in those wooden shoes," wrote one. Another critic considered the performance "strikingly beautiful" and his words were echoed by a colleague who said that Stokowski had "a thorough perception of the score, youthful and springlike." Incidentally, the closing moments show Princess Margrethe and her Prince Consort applauding the performance. At the time of this uploading she is Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and is aged 81.
NOTE: This is a re-mastering of the previous upload of 12 March due to its poor soundtrack quality.

[@adam28xx]

Please note that this is a replacement for my upload of 12 March. The soundtrack on that video was not very good, so a re-mastering was necessary. I hope it sounds better this time round!

[@dmntuba]

WOW!!! Always luv to watch the old master at work...thanks for sharing 👍

[@adam28xx]

Thanks for watching!

[@uranrising]

Just a wonderful symphony. Nielsen's such a healthy composer. Greetings from East Anglia in England

[@adam28xx]

I thought I would repeat a couple of the comments under my original upload of this video. Stefan Rauch wrote: "The Maestro at work! I am not so familiar with Nielsen's 2nd so I listened to some other very good recordings of the symphony as comparison. No doubt! Stokowski's version is one of the best - a magnificent, rousing and heartfelt performance! Masterful! Much thanks for posting this gem!" ... Cely Garcia added: "Wonderful Symphony !!!!!!" ... Many thanks for these comments!

[@HenJack-vl5cb]

Great performance although not fan of this very work.