Milstein has been well
served recently in respect of his live
performances. Both Music and Arts and
Bridge, for instance, have issued some
authoritative recordings that act as
fine supplementary material for his
commercial discography.
Doremi has also entered
the arena with its own selection. This
first volume is something of a mixed
affair that takes in Concert Hall broadcasts
and V-discs from the latter stages of
the War and adds the relatively familiar
live Copenhagen recordings of two Paganini
caprices that collectors have long known
from their original appearance on Danacord.
Certainly the most exciting item is
the Brahms Second Sonata, a work I don’t
believe Milstein recorded commercially.
There’s also a big concerto – Bruch’s
G minor – and a Vivaldi-Respighi sonata
alongside some sweetmeats and a finger-buster
or three.
The Brahms is taken
at a broadly Heifetz-like tempo, that’s
to say rather faster than one is used
to hearing the sonata today, or even
in the days of the classic Suk-Katchen
Decca traversal. His partner is Valentin
Pavlovsky, a decent player though not
one who measures up to the standards
set by Artur Balsam, a regular sonata
colleague of the violinist’s. The highlight
is the slow movement, notable for the
subtlety of Milstein’s inflexions and
vibrato usage, particulars one can hear
with that much more clarity because
the skewed balance strongly favours
the violin over the piano.
The Bruch Concerto
remained a staple of Milstein’s and
he left multiple commercial recordings
of it. My favourite happens to be the
Pittsburgh/Steinberg, which I’ll take
over the 1942 New York/Barbirolli, good
though that is. This New York/Rodzinski
performance may summon up rather more
the Barbirolli ethos than the Steinberg
but actually it highlights a certain
weakness in the violinist’s approach
to this work. One can forgive the initial
intonational problems - it takes him
a good couple of minutes to play himself
in – as well as the subterranean bass
frequencies, limited aural perspective
and the small untidiness in the orchestral
playing. But Milstein’s approach was
always one of understatement in this
work and to be frank he tends to sound
reserved and aloof; never cold or unfeeling,
just not inclined to lavish tonal allure
and free romantic expression in this
work.
The Vivaldi-Respighi
is recorded in some of the best sound
on the disc – Milstein was a mini pioneering
baroque performer on 78 – whilst the
Rimsky is recorded on a boxy 1944 V-disc.
We can listen to the Massenet Thais
in the same performance but transferred
using two different styli, a GE and
a Stanton cartridge. This is unusual
enough to note – and engineer and Doremi
chief Jacob Harnoy notes the differing
qualities to be found using these different
styli. Milstein’s nonchalant virtuosity
can be heard in the Wieniawski and Paganini
and as a bonus we can hear some introductions
from Lionel Barrymore, though he’s nowhere
credited in the documentation.
So something of a mixed
recital of concerti, sonatas, genre
and encore pieces alike. Variable though
some pieces are this is a fine salute
to Milstein, adding materially to our
appreciation and awareness of previously
intractable elements of his repertoire.
In that I especially mention the Brahms.
Milstein was seldom less than exalted
in his playing and much of this programme
is precisely that – Olympian.
Jonathan Woolf
Nathan Milstein (violin) with 
