More "arr. Stokowski" was heard in February under the baton of Society Member John Ehde, who conducted two concerts in Denmark with the North Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The music, chosen by John himself, included Johann Strauss's Radetzky March, Vaughan Williams's Greensleeves, Lumbye's Champagne Galop, Delius's On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, and the Bach-Stokowski Chorale from the Easter Cantata. John writes: "The orchestral climax of the first half was definitely the Stokowski Easter Chorale. As it is written with many wind doublings, it can also be performed by a smaller ensemble. It is easy to tell that it is written with great knowledge of the orchestra and is therefore also attractive to the players. I enjoyed how the piece grew on them with every rehearsal. In the beginning there was some scepticism and the usual 'Is it Bach or Stokowski? Do we really have to make the retards?' etc. The scepticism disappeared fairly quickly as I began to 'sell it' to them and I smiled as I heard muted whispers from inside the orchestra, like 'I must say I'm beginning to enjoy it.'

"At the concerts I told the audiences of Stoki's past as an organist and his love for Bach. I had also brought a record sleeve with a huge picture of the old wizard that I placed, to some amusement, next to the conductor's stand during the performance. We finally pulled out all the stops and the orchestra played up to its absolute best. Not perfect in every way but the Bach / Stoki sound was clearly there! We also played it as an encore at the second concert, followed by a standing ovation!"

John Ehde, right, with his Bach-Stokowski score, and oboist Thomas Nissen

John's inclusion of the Delius piece in his concerts stems from his love of that composer's music (he has played the Delius Cello Concerto many times). He remembered visiting the Stokowski Collection some years ago and being surprised to find five orchestral scores by Delius, though Stokowski had marked none of them for performance. "With his magical sense of colour and flow," John writes, "I'm sure he could have done some absolutely wonderful Delius readings, but I sometimes think he might have found the music too abstract really to convince him." John asks any fellow member who has some knowledge or thoughts on a possible Delius / Stokowski connection to let him know. But as far as can be seen from John Hunt's Concert Register, Stokowski never performed any Delius at all, doubtless feeling - like many others conductors of the time - that Beecham's interpretations could never be matched.