Nathan Milstein: In Performance With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Rating:
Summary: Just Look at the Repertoire...
Review: Just look at the repertoire and one can tell how irresistible this DVD is: there is the Mendelssohn Concerto and the Tsaichovsky Concerto in full, plus one of the very best Partitas of the century.

And no matter how many Mendelssohn concerti you have listened to before, be assured that this one is not going to be less appealing, not at all, and it is not just because of his articulation. Right, Milstein is perhaps even more sensitive to the turns and twists of Tsaichovsky's music even Heifetz. And one can be quite sure that his Partita is superior to Heifetz's. Certainly in many a way, Milstein is unsurpassable.

However, note that (i) the recorded sound is slightly below average for the sonorous sound of the violin is missing; (ii) the photography is average only; (iii) this is not Chicago under Reiner but just one of his pupils and the difference is quite obvious.

Rating:
Summary: Nathan again
Review: Nathan was one of legendary violinsts and this DVD will prove it. Once again, you will see Nathan with inbelievable technique in two very famous concertos, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The sound quality is not good as I thought (base on the years 1962 and 1963, compare to Kogan DVD played Beethoven Concerto), maybe they used just one microphone to record. And the camera could make you a little angry, because of the angles they took pictures. Some time you just can see small part of Nathan's violin without bow or fingers. The last thing is the orchestra played not smooth in both concertos, in the mergences after solo parts, especially after Tchaikovsky's Allegro cadenza.

Over all I still give five starts for this DVD for an excellence performance of Nathan, which hard to find nowaday.