Nathan Milstein (violin)
The American Columbia Solo Recordings – Volume 2
Artur Balsam, Leopold Mittman (piano)
rec. 1935-1942, New York
Pristine Audio PACM130 [62]

This second Pristine set of Nathan Milstein’s recordings for Columbia offers up a ragtag assortment of odds and ends, with two violin sonatas (Mozart and Beethoven), a chunk of a concerto (Stamitz), and Romantic encore repertoire that he would mostly revisit later in life for EMI. One has to wonder what the Columbia Artists and Repertoire executive was thinking, looking at a Russian violin virtuoso and saying, “This is the man I have been waiting for to record the Stamitz Concerto.” And then, “Not the whole thing, mind you, just movements two and three.” And for good measure, “It’ll also be with piano, not orchestra.” 

As it turns out, it was a good bet. Milstein’s intense vibrato and singing but pure tone suit the classical works down to the ground. The Stamitz receives a graceful, lilting performance. I had never heard any of his music other than the famous viola concerto (and yes, they are both by Karl Philipp Stamitz), and this piece is just as ingratiating as its cousin. 

The Mozart and Beethoven sonatas, both accompanied by the great Polish American pianist Artur Balsam, receive feather-light and rapid performances that don’t dig very deep into the music. To be fair, neither work represents the height of profundity in either composer’s compositional catalogue, but I suspect there might be more to glean from the recordings if Balsam had not been miked as if he were participating from a neighboring state. This was the fashion at the time, but it is still unpleasant from a musical perspective. From what is audible, Balsam plays with a pearly touch and is careful to match the very precise phrasing and energetic pep of the violinist. His very even scales in the first movement of the Beethoven are particularly well done. 

The encore pieces are excellent, as one would expect from Milstein, who had technique in spades as well as an excellent understanding of how to put across what some dub “flash and trash” in a tasteful yet still exciting manner. La campanella is tossed off with jaw-dropping ease; the trills are lightning quick, the passagework nimble and invariably in tune. The double-stop scales are taken at a very rapid clip, yet Milstein doesn’t sound like they trouble him at all. Amidst all the technical glitter, he still manages to play with a singing tone, with some very Kreisleresque shifts thrown in for good measure. If one had to find a quibble, the last note of the final ascending scale doesn’t quite speak, but for a disc recorded without editing, it’s a very impressive performance. 

The Gluck/Kreisler Mélodie receives a gorgeous yet chaste performance. This is likely closer to the classical ideal put forward by Gluck than the refulgent recording by Perlman. One can hear what always seems to me to be a small Milstein hallmark; when he plays half steps in slow tempi, the interval seems very close, narrower than one hears in other violinists. To be clear, it is never out of tune, just very close. Combined with his ultra smooth bow changes, it creates a distinctive sound unique to Milstein.

Milstein’s performance of his own Chopin and Liszt transcriptions are the epitome of tonal elegance and bow control. I had no idea that he wrote those transcriptions so early in his career; his famously nasty transcription of the Mephisto Waltz for solo violin (never commercially recorded by Milstein) was not published until 1982, but upon further investigation, the Chopin Nocturne appeared via Associated Music Publishers and Universal Edition in 1935. 

It was interesting to compare Milstein’s svelte, urbane “gypsy” in the Brahms Hungarian Dance to the version recorded in 1903 by Joseph Joachim, Brahms’s collaborator, and in this case, transcriber. Joachim plays his transcription with a rugged wildness that is completely alien to Milstein’s nature. Some listeners will enjoy Milstein’s more sober, controlled version, but I think Joachim wins this one hands-down. 

These records are not easy to find, so it is a pleasure to have them all in one handy location. My copy of the disc unfortunately skipped during the Smetana Aus der Heimat, but all other tracks functioned as expected. Pristine’s transfers were, as always, pristine.

Richard Masters

Contents
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)
Mélodie from Orfeo ed Euridice (arr. Kreisler)*
Karl Stamitz (1746-1801)
Concerto in B-flat Major, mvts. 2-3
W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
Violin Sonata in C Major, K. 296*
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonata no. 8 in G Major, op. 30 no. 3*
Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840)
La campanella (arr. Kreisler)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
“Traumerei” from Kinderszenen, op. 15 (arr. Hüllweck)*
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Nocturne in C-sharp Minor, op. post. (arr. Milstein)
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Consolation no. 3 in D-flat Major (arr. Milstein)
Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
No. 2, Andantino, from Aus der Heimat
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Hungarian Dance no. 2 in D Minor (arr. Joachim)*

Artur Balsam*
Leopold Mittman