A Superb Mr. Stokowski at the Proms . From Our Music Critic Anyone disposed to feel that Mr. Leopold Stokowski's reputation as a conductor had been built up on false or superficial premises, in fact that he is less than one of this century'S greatest conductors, must have been disabused by last night's Prome,nade concert in which Mr. Stokowski conducted a per- formance of Mahler's second symphony which was superb by any standards, meticulously loyal, noble, and deeply felt out of long and thoughtful experience. The character of the interpretation began to be foreshadowed at the start of the concert when Mr. Stokowski conducted his own orchestral transcrip- tion of Bach's C minor organ passacaglia and fugue. This is not the sort of sound or texture that modern students of Bach find ideal, but it was current and signifi- cant at the time when Mahler wrote the second sympbhny and later when Mr. Stokowski, himself a professional organist, began conducting-during Mahler's lifetime, indeed just before Mahler left the Vienna Opera for New York. Like Mahler, the conductor of this performance is a tireless investigator of subtleties in twentieth-century orchestral technique, and though Mr. Stokowski has the reputation of an individualist, his reading left no doubt that he under- stands and appreciates exactly what Mahler's careful scores are meant to convey. We tend to regard Mahler as a modern composer, who speaks of matters particularly relevant to the thought of our own age; Mr. Stokowski. with his Bach transcription, reminded us that Mahler's symphonic journeys began with a world of sound quitc different from our own. His reading of the second symphony had not the hardness of outline, the insistence on nerve-endings exposed to everyone's gaze, that we now cherish in Mahler-perhaps too much, so far as concerns a symphony composed in 1894. But it was remarkably clear and precise and rhythmically alive, except when the size of the orchestra and the expanse of the Albert Hall precipitated some momentary hiatus of ensemble. The scherzo of St. Antony and the Fishes glinted and snarled with irresist- ible effect, the great funeral oration of a first movement was spread out monu- mentally but quite firmly, and the enot mous finale was built steadily to a climax of overpowering emotional weight. It remained enigmatic that the off- stage military bands were allowed to sound so close and noisy, and that the choral al,tos were, for a single phrase, brought in to support Miss Janet Baker in the duet " 0 Schmerz. du Alldurch- dringer ", and so upset the otherwise admirable balance between her and Miss Rae Woodland, the strong and flexible soprano soloist. The numerous choirs and the London Symphony Orchestra deserve all praise for a memnorable perforrnance, but in the end we return to Mahler and to Mr. Stokowski who understands this sym- phony so thoroughly. A Superb Mr. Stokowski at the Proms