Nathan Milstein

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Nathan Mironovich Milstein (January 13, 1904 (Old Style: December 31, 1903) – December 21, 1992) was a virtuoso violinist born in Russia. He died in London just weeks before his 89^th birthday.^[1]

Widely considered one of the finest violinists of the 20th century, Milstein was known for his interpretations of Bach's solo violin works and for works from the Romantic period. He was also known for his long career: he performed at a high level into his mid 80s, retiring only after suffering a broken hand.

Milstein started violin studies with the eminent violin pedagogue Piotr Stolyarsky. Among Milstein's other teachers were two celebrated violinists, Leopold Auer in St. Petersburg and Eugène Ysaÿe in Belgium. He told film-maker Christopher Nupen, director of Nathan Milstein – A Portrait, that he learned almost nothing from Ysaÿe but enjoyed his company enormously. In a 1977 interview printed in High Fidelity, he said, "I went to Ysaÿe in 1926 but he never paid any attention to me. I think it might have been better this way. I had to think for myself." ^[2] He was obsessed with articulating each note perfectly and would often spend long periods of time working out fingerings which would make passages sound more articulated.

Biography

He was born in Odessa, Russian Empire, (now part of Ukraine), the fourth child of seven, to a middle-class Jewish family with virtually no musical background. It was a concert by the 11-year-old Jascha Heifetz that inspired his parents to make a violinist out of Milstein. As a child (of seven years old), he started violin studies (as suggested by his parents, to keep out of mischief) with the eminent violin pedagogue Piotr Stolyarsky, also the teacher of renowned violinist David Oistrakh. When Milstein was 11, Leopold Auer invited him to become one of his students at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Milstein reminisced:

Every little boy who had the dream of playing better than the other boy wanted to go to Auer. He was a very gifted man and a good teacher. I used to go to the Conservatory twice a week for classes. I played every lesson with forty or fifty people sitting and listening. Two pianos were in the classroom and a pianist accompanied us. When Auer was sick, he would ask me to come to his home. ^[3]

Milstein may in fact have been the last of the great Russian violinists to have had personal contact with Auer. Auer did not name Milstein in his memoirs but mentions "two boys from Odessa ... both of whom disappeared after I left St. Petersburg in June 1917." ^[4] Neither is Milstein's name in the registry of the St Petersburg Conservatory.

When Auer went to Norway in 1917, Milstein went back to Odessa. He met Vladimir Horowitz and his pianist sister Regina in 1921 when he played a recital in Kiev. They invited him for tea at their parents' home. Milstein later said, "I came for tea and stayed three years." ^[5] Milstein and Horowitz performed together, as "children of the revolution," throughout the Soviet Union and struck up a life-long friendship. In 1925, they went on a concert tour of Western Europe together.

Milstein made his American debut in 1929 with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He eventually settled in New York and became an American citizen. He continuted to tour repeatedly throughout Europe, maintaining residences in London and Paris.

A transcriber and composer, Milstein arranged many works for violin and writing his own cadenzas for many concertos. One of his best known compositions is Paganiniana, a set of variations on various themes from the works of Niccolò Paganini.

In 1948, his recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, with Bruno Walter conducting the New York Philharmonic, had the distinction of being the first catalogue item in Columbia's newly introduced long-playing twelve-inch 33 rpm vinyl records, Columbia ML 4001.

He received a Grammy Award in 1975 for his recording of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas, and was awarded the Legion of Honour by France in 1968. He was also awarded Kennedy Center honors by President Ronald Reagan.

A recital he gave in Stockholm in July 1986 proved to be his final performance. An accident shortly afterwards ended his career.

For most of his career he performed on the "Milstein(Maria Teresa), Goldman" Stradivarius of 1716 and for a short period the "Dancla" Stradivarius of 1710.

During the late 1980s, Milstein published his memoirs, From Russia to the West, in which he discussed his life of constant performance and socializing. Milstein discusses the personalities of important composers such as Alexander Glazunov, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky and conductors such as Arturo Toscanini and Leopold Stokowski, all of whom he knew personally. He also discusses his best friends, pianist Vladimir Horowitz, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky and ballet director George Balanchine, as well as other violinists such as Fritz Kreisler and David Oistrakh. Milstein also expressed his generally conservative, strongly anti-communist and anti-Soviet political beliefs. Milstein said that President Kennedy was a weak leader, admired President Reagan, and stated that he refused to return to the Soviet Union, even for a tour sponsored by the United States.

Milstein was married twice, remaining married to his second wife, Therese, until his death.

References

• FROM RUSSIA TO THE WEST: The Musical Memoirs & Reminiscences of Nathan Milstein by Nathan Milstein & Solomon Volkov. Limelight Edition, 1991.
• NATHAN MILSTEIN by Tully Potter, 1995. From CD booklet notes (Testament SBT 1047).
• Beethoven and Brahms violin concertos. (2001) EMI Records Ltd. Barcode 0724356758353

External links

• http://www.geometry.net/violinists/milstein_nathan.html
• Milstein website
• Inkpot.com biography