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Your cart is empty.Leopold Stokowski conducts the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Also included is an interview with Stokowski. 1967, B&W, Mono, 45 min.
THE BLUEMAHLER
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2013
In the classic Chuck Jones Bugs Bunny cartoon, "The Long-Haired Hare" Bugs takes on the guise of the great Leopold (Stokowski) and the audience reverently begins chanting in unison: "Leopold! Leopold! Leopold!" Naturally, a smorgasbord of color and chaos follows.Here, we get to see the reason for that hushed reverence. This VAI distributed film is, surprisingly, one of the few times Stokowski conducted Nielsen. Or, perhaps its not so surprising. While Stoki premiered more new works than any other conductor (by far), and had a wider palette than most, he also had a bit of a Don Juan syndrome: More often than not, his premiere dalliance with a new composer wound up being a one night stand, with the conductor moving onto the next conquest.Stoki came to Nielsen late and his organist' sense of aural color perfectly suits this composer. According to Stoki's thorough biographer Oliver Daniels this came from a 1967 concert, which also included music from Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Stravinsky (all were part of the standard Stoki repertoire). With a short running time of about forty minutes, it would have been simple enough for VAI to include these and what one would give to see the maestro conducting Mussorgsky (Oliver Knussen and Claudio Abbado are among the few who have shown as much skilled enthusiasm for this magnificent composer).The 85 year old conductor is alert and energetic conducting the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, giving a one of a kind performance that is, fortunately, preserved. The film is in black and white and in mono. A short interview is included. The dvd is priced right, so snatch this up while its available and give yourself over to Leopold! Leopold! Leopold!
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