Aristocratic Milstein

The good folk at EMI have been at it again, for close on the heels of their massive Stokowski set comes another delicious eight disc Icons issue celebrating  the art of violinist Nathan Milstein.  It’s simply entitled ‘Aristocrat of the Violin’ and, for many listeners, that seems to sum up the man and his career to a T.  Indeed, critic Harold Schoenberg once wrote that Milstein ‘could well have been the most nearly perfect violinist of his time’.

Not that he was ever without competition in that field.  He shared a teacher - the great Leopold Auer - with Heifetz, Mischa Elman, Zimbalist and Toscha Seidl, among others.  The trajectory of his career coincided at some points at least with their careers plus the likes of Kreisler, Menuhin, Huberman and Szigeti.  It says something for the greatness of the man and the brilliance of his technique that he was fully the equal of any of them.  If audiences thrilled to the throbbing romantic playing of Heifetz or the intense weeping emotionalism of Elman they were, it seems, equally as drawn to the aristocratic refinement of Milstein.

Milstein is nearly always referred to as a ‘Romantic’ violinist and I suppose that must be true although you mightn’t think so when you listen to his award winning Bach Sonatas and Partitas.  Like Casals with the Bach Suites, Milstein  was the first to play these works complete in the 1930’s.  By the time he made the recordings on this set in the mid 1950’s the pieces were part of his very fibre and every note tells.  To my ears there’s nothing overly ‘Romantic’ about these interpretations particularly in comparison with, say, Heifetz or Menuhin; one simply feels that this is how the music should go.  Although there are plenty of ‘Romantic’ works in the set (the Tchaikovsky, Glazunov and Dvorak Concertos among  much else) it’s Milstein’s Bach, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven that will keep me coming back.

What an incredible violinist in an age of incredible violin playing!

Nathan Milstein - EMI Icons - 8CD Box Set - £22.40
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