Search - Nathan Milstein :: Milstein (4CD Set)

Great vintage recordings for a bargain price

Anton Zimmerling | Moscow, Russia | 07/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this bargain-priced 4CD set in a music store, despite some reservations about the quality of the transfers: I have the set of Beethoven's sonatas with Artur Schnabel on the same label, and the sound quality is poorer than on my Angel LPs. Fortunately, my misgivings were not borne out -- Milstein's unique tembre is there, and the level of the surface noise is acceptable. I have however no LPs with the same recordings and cannot check my positive impression to a degree I can do that with Schnabel's transfers on Membrane/Artone. Moreover, I am not sure that many items from this collection have ever been issued in the LP-period.

Turning to Milstein: the recordings included here were made from 1938 to 1951. There are 6 concerts, 2 sonatas and a number of encores. Milstein's playing is fantastic (who doubts?), but in some cases the overall quality of the ensemble is surpassed by Milstein's later recordings.

CD 1. Absolutely the best item is Romanza Andaluza by Sarasate: both the violinist's sound and his phrasing are a miracle. Later Milstein's remakes of this piece lack the rhapsodic mood and the shining tone of this 1942 recording. Beethoven's 8th Sonata (1938) is very vivid. Interesting, Milstein's later (1957/1958) remake with the same pianist, Artur Balsam, has completely different tempos. I prefer the early version.

CD 2. This CD has concertos by Mendelssohn (1945, w. Walter) and Brahms (1951, w. Sabata). The first recording can be found on Sony's Bruno Walter's edition, where it is coupled with Walter-Szigeti's recording of Beethoven's concerto. Personally, I think that neither this Mendelssohn nor this Brahms are the best variants in Milstein's discography.

CD 3. Again two concertos, this time by Tchaikovsky (1940, w. Stock) and Dvorak (1951, w. Dorati). Milstein spoke of Tchaikovsky's Op. 35 as a 'virtuoso concerto' and his dazzling tempo in the final movement confirms this assessment. The conductor is fine. Milstein's Dvorak with Dorati is a real joy.

CD 4. Goldmark's concerto, Glazunov's concerto (both in A minor, despite a typo on the cover), and Bloch's Baal Shem (1938). Both concertos were Milstein's specialties, and many critics doubt, whether anyone else could have played them better. The question is, which version in Milstein's discography to choose. A wise tip: to have them all. The maestro himself refused to tell an interviewer (in 1992), which of his versions of Glazunov's concerto is "the best one". I am not sure, whether the version included here (1994, Steinberg/RCA) is optimal. But I am almost sure that this version of Goldmark's concerto with Bruno Walter (1942) is NOT optimal. May I be understood correctly: I am a big fan of Bruno Walter. I simply feel that in this case he and the NYPO provided a rather slack accompaniment to Milstein, and think that Mitropoulous in 1957 did his job with the same orchestra better. This is my view, not Milstein's: this great violinist had a very low opinion of great conductors in general and thought that they do not read the scores of violin concertos properly...

One correction: Milstein was born on December 31, 1903, not in 1904, as indicated. The same mess may be found on other labels."