Search - Chicago Symphony Orchestra Historic Telecasts: Nathan Milstein/Walter Hendl on DVD

Nathan again

Bach H. Nguyen | MA | 11/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Just Look at the Repertoire...

BLee | HK | 11/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

What a perfect little DVD!

Joseph Hart | Visalia, CA United States | 03/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All these performers are wonderful. I learn so much (and love so much) watching them. During the Tchaikovsky, I noticed how little the violinists in the orchestra had to do, how simple their parts were, and I was watching them particularly to try to guess whether they could play the solo part. This DVD was b/w, the sound during the first piece, the Mendelssohn was poor but not forbidding, the sound during the Bach and the Tchaikovsky seemed good to me. Maybe I was just used to it, only it didn't seem like it. And the photography was fine with billions of wonderful close-ups of Milstein's fingering and bowing. The 2 little interviews (one about the Bach about to be played, the other about the Tchaikovsky - in the wrong order and out of context) were interesting if you want to know how Milstein talks and what his personality is like (I did), but there are no insights or profundities in either of them. The music was spectacular, and Milstein (for such a quiet, modest little man) plays with a spectacular flourish and a flair! He was born in 1904, these tapes were filmed in 1962 and 1963, that would put him about 60 years old, he didn't look it. I loved the DVD. The section of the partita is played on a black empty stage, the 2 concertos of course are with an orchestra, no audience in any case. The interviews were staged and homey, and frankly I would rather have learned more about Milstein, about music, about Milstein's views, about how Milstein plays. But I liked them anyway. Which leads me to my final comment. A few days ago I watched a DVD of Menuhin (and yes, I am going broke buying these things, they are much, much more expensive than the average DVD, but they are so much fun to watch), anyway Menuhin as an old man was watching the same films of himself playing (1947) that I'd just watched and he was delighted to see that he'd kept the top of his thumb even with the edge of the fingerboard, he said that he tried to get his students to do that, and that it makes it easier to shift from one position to another. Sigh. Well Milstein (first violinist I've seen since hearing that) cradles the violin in the crook between his thumb and forefinger, and his thumb is practically wrapped around the fingerboard. Then I started looking at the violinists in the orchestra, and they ALL had their thumbs sticking far above the fingerboard. One more thing I almost forgot, there are some good, imaginative, interesting closeups of members of the orchestra playing. Particularly during the Tchaikovsky."