Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 2: The Four Temperaments isn't necessarily about women or men. It's about--temperaments.

The traditional four temperaments are based on four fluids of the body.

Yellow Bile: choleric temperament. Phlegm: phlegmatic temperament. Black Bile: melancholic temperament. Blood: sanguine temperament.

The symphony's four movements progress in that order: choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic and sanguine.

I was happy to hear this music performed. Nielsen's second symphony lived in my car for about a year back in the day when I had to use a discman and a cassette adapter to get CD's to play. I'd forgotten what a great piece of music it is.

The Grossmont Symphony played well en mass but some of the exposed sections were tentative. The over all structure of the music was well prepared and conductor Randal Tweed brought it all together with a clear and expressive baton.

Once again, there were patrons who were unfamiliar with the applause pattern at a symphony concert.

The concert was downtown at St. Joseph's Cathedral and the music director tried to give the audience some guidance about applause at the end of the intermission but to no avail.

I enjoyed watching a particular young man become more and more agitated with each round of applause. At one point I thought the aneurism was nigh.

Here's a link to the 1st movement, choleric.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-GKmfTI0d0