Search - Johannes Brahms, Max Bruch, Jules Massenet :: Nathan Milstein Collection Vol.1

Milstein's early treasures in good transfers

Anton Zimmerling | Moscow, Russia | 07/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD contains rare live recordings and broadcasts (1933-1944) by the legendary violinist Nathan Milstein. Milstein did not leave commercial recordings of some pieces from this collection, e.g. Brahms, Sonata No. 2 Op. 100. Bruch's 1st violin concert in G minor, Op. 26, was one of Milstein's biggest hits, cf. also his famous recordings with William Steinberg Bruch: Violin Concerto/Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto/Prokofiev: Violin Concerto and Sir John Barbirolli Barbirolli: The Columbia Masters, Vol. 3. The version included here is with Artur Rodzinsky (1944). The earliest items are two caprices by Paganini (Nos. 5 and 17), recorded live in Copenhagen in 1933: this account of the 5th caprice is even more breathtaking than many recordings of the same piece made by Milstein after the war, cf.Milstein Performs Beethoven, Bach, Paganini, Falla, Novácek. The rich use of portamentos and glissandos in this 1933 recording (1933) is a characteristics of the 1930s violin style, but average mortals were hardly capable of playing the piece in such an inhuman tempo and keep all the notes distinct.



The transfers are good: the background noise is audible, but this means just that the engineers have done their job properly and did not retouch the broadcast sound unduly, which is unfortunately typical for some bargain-price labels. Recommended for all Milstein's aficionados and for all violin lovers."