Nathan Milstein - favourite recordings

[Barbirollians]

I wondered what others felt about old NM - sometimes I have found his recordings a little too fast - but a very cheap DG Double has resuscitated his very lovely early 1970s Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn with Abbado ( especially the Mendelssohn ) and a Brahms with Jochum which i have enjoyed a great deal

His Goldmark is legendary - other favourites ?

[cloughie]

I wondered what others felt about old NM - sometimes I have found his recordings a little too fast - but a very cheap DG Double has resuscitated his very lovely early 1970s Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn with Abbado ( especially the Mendelssohn ) and a Brahms with Jochum which i have enjoyed a great deal

His Goldmark is legendary - other favourites ?

I would have thought in the scale of things his Abbado recordings are quite late cf his recordings with Steinberg - Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch and Mendelssohn all excellent - I guess that many on these boards will not like the ageing recordings!

[Keraulophone]

Monaural, but ok sound (1950).
Much more rewarding IMO than his later set on DG.

[Don Petter]

Monaural, but ok sound (1950).
Much more rewarding IMO than his later set on DG.

You beat me to it! That would be my starting point for NM.

[Keraulophone]

[pastoralguy]

His Goldmark is legendary - other favourites ?

IMHO, some of the finest violin every committed to posterity. I've heard many other recordings of this work and no one comes remotely close. Do you have the Testament fischer that includes the out takes?

[amateur51]

I used to have a cassette of NM playing both Prokofiev violin concertos with Giulini and I liked them very much.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Violin-Concertos-Nos-Sonata-Milstein/dp/B0009VYP06/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1415653266&sr=1-1&keywords=Prokofiev+violin+concertos+Milstein

[amateur51]

I used to have a cassette of NM playing both Prokofiev violin concertos with Giulini and I liked them very much.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Violin-Conce...ertos+Milstein

only 2* from the chap from amazon.com

This looks choice

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aristocrat-The-Violin-Nathan-Milstein/dp/B002HIEIVA/ref=pd_sim_sbs_m_h__1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0MHBG083QD2ZBWFXXDFM

[Barbirollians]

IMHO, some of the finest violin every committed to posterity. I've heard many other recordings of this work and no one comes remotely close. Do you have the Testament fischer that includes the out takes?

Yes dazzling stuff . I am also very fond of his Classics for Pleasure Mendelssohn and Bruch no 1 with the Phuilharmonia and Leon Barzin.

[richardfinegold]

Monaural, but ok sound (1950).
Much more rewarding IMO than his later set on DG.

I prefer the DG set. I also would check the series devoted to Milstein on the Doremi label.

[neiltingley]

Two Naxos CDs with superlative performances of Beethoven Spring sonata and Prokofiev 2nd, Brahms double, peerless Glazunov concerto and Dvorak. I love the Saint saens 2nd violin concerto on EMI - Milstein in absolutely top form. The Prokofiev concertos: doubt there is a better performance of #1. There's a 10 CD boxes set, the Art of Nathan Milstein that is packed with treasures.

[Barbirollians]

There is a splendid bonus on the 2 CD DG set of Milstein's Brahms, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky recordings - a very lovely performance of the Beethoven Concerto with Zukerman and Barenboim . I don't think PK has ever made a better record - stunningly beautiful playing.

[Tony Halstead]

There is a splendid bonus on the 2 CD DG set of Milstein's Brahms, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky recordings - a very lovely performance of the Beethoven Concerto with Zukerman and Barenboim . I don't think PK has ever made a better record - stunningly beautiful playing.

Yes, agreed, this takes me back to around 1974 just after I had 'pledged my horn-playing allegiance' to the English Chamber Orchestra after 3 years in the LSO, which, although undoubtedly exciting and inspiring, almost gave me a nervous breakdown.
We (the ECO and Zukerman) did a 2 week tour of German towns, playing the Beethoven VC and the 2nd symphony ( this latter conducted by PZ) pretty well every night. Very hard work but also very rewarding, as PZ never once in those 12 concerts gave a 'carbon copy' performance of the VC.. he made subtle variations which of course kept us all 'on our toes' and similarly he made nightly 'adjustments' to the 2nd symphony.
I don't know when the DG Zukerman/ Barenboim/ Beethoven VC recording was made, but, I feel sure that if a recording had been made after that German tour with the ECO, it would have been superb, as we were all playing it like chamber music.

[clive heath]

It was a starlit night in the Brecklands. I was, as a member of the signals section of the CCF on annual camp, toting around a No.2 set ( a short wave radio, y'know, and significantly heavy) as radio link for Blue Commander in the night exercise. The radio link with Red Commander's bod had failed to materialise and my CO having initially berated me for uselessness eventually agreed that there was no link and told me to relax in the bracken, this was near Thetford/Brandon, and wait to be told when it was all over. So I scoured the air-waves and happened on the Tchaikovsky from, it turned out, Radio Monaco or some such and was captivated by the performance, by the intensity, by the phrasing and I wouldn't be telling you this if it didn't turn out to be by NM.

The other musical moment of interest was when we were enjoying the East Lancs' (our hosts') Military Band who, as they explained to us, spent most of their time playing for the dances held by the regiment and only very occasionally marches etc. for military parades. Anyway with the bumptiousness of musical youth we asked them if they had any proper music in their bandbook and they said "oh well, there's this piece by Holst" so we said "can we hear it" and the lead clarinettist, our interlocutor, put back his two front teeth and we were treated to ? for the life of me I can't remember which Holst it was. But they definitely did play "Selections from Choo Chin Chow".

[Barbirollians]

Yes, agreed, this takes me back to around 1974 just after I had 'pledged my horn-playing allegiance' to the English Chamber Orchestra after 3 years in the LSO, which, although undoubtedly exciting and inspiring, almost gave me a nervous breakdown.
We (the ECO and Zukerman) did a 2 week tour of German towns, playing the Beethoven VC and the 2nd symphony ( this latter conducted by PZ) pretty well every night. Very hard work but also very rewarding, as PZ never once in those 12 concerts gave a 'carbon copy' performance of the VC.. he made subtle variations which of course kept us all 'on our toes' and similarly he made nightly 'adjustments' to the 2nd symphony.
I don't know when the DG Zukerman/ Barenboim/ Beethoven VC recording was made, but, I feel sure that if a recording had been made after that German tour with the ECO, it would have been superb, as we were all playing it like chamber music.

Tony that is exactly the impression this record gives of the piece - it was recorded in 1977 with the Chicago SO .