Milstein: "Vignettes" for Violin - Capitol P 8396 (thick Dutch pressing)

$

130

ITEM DESCRIPTION:

This beautiful LP from Capitol (P 8396, LP pressed in Holland (on thick vinyl) / jacket printed in the USA, green/silver label, glossy front laminated jacket) entitled “Vignettes” features legendary violinist Nathan Milstein's justly famous album of violin encores, recorded at Capitol Studios, New York City in April 1957 with the splendid pianist Leon Pommers – one of the great albums of its kind.

Their program consisted of the following works:

Claude Debussy: La fille aux cheveux de lin, No. 8 from the 12 Préludes Book I

Maurice Ravel: Berceuse sur le nom de Fauré

Pablo de Sarasate: Romanza andaluza Op. 22 No. 1

Peter Tchaikovsky: Mélodie ·Souvenir d'un lieu cher Op. 42

Manuel de Falla (arr. Paul Kochanski): Asturiana, No. 3 from Siete canciones populares españoles

Ottokar Novácek: Caprice Op. 5 No. 2 · “Perpetuum mobile”

Robert Schumann (arr: Georges Catherine): Träumerei, No. 7 from Kinderszenen Op. 15

Henri Wieniawski: Polonaise brillante in D Major Op. 4 No. 1

Henri Wieniawski: Scherzo-Tarantelle in G minor Op. 16

J.S. Bach (arr. August Wilhelmj): Air, from the Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major BWV 1068

Manuel de Falla (arr. Paul Kochanski): Jota, No. 4 from Siete canciones populares españoles

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Of the EMI CD re-issue of this recording, the superb critic Robert Maxham for the Jan-Feb 1999 issue of Fanfare:

“I treasure the earliest memories of my father's golden Guarneri-pattern violin, made by my luthier great-grandfather, as it lay smothered in the green velvet of his case. I remember with equal clarity and warmth my first experience of Milstein almost a decade later. Although he was the last of the great violinists whose style I came to know, two of his recordings, the Goldmark Concerto (Capitol PAO 8414) and the Vignettes (Capitol P 8396), along with Paul Stoeving's rhapsodic book on the violin, set the compass of my life. In the booklet accompanying Testament's rerelease of the Goldmark Concerto (SBT 1047), Hugh Bean notes that Milstein was the Goldmark Concerto. I'm the Vignettes. Not that I ever could, or even now can, play those short pieces with anything like Milstein's consummate elegance. For years, though, I begged my teacher to let me work on one after another: They became the test tubes in which I tried to replicate Milstein's alchemistic transmutations. What he himself made from them was, and for me still is, the purest gold.

“Frank Sinatra, the story goes, mined Heifetz's recordings for ideas about phrasing. But Sinatra and Heifetz had little in common (although Heifetz did have blue eyes). Only in the months since the Chairman's death have I discovered the resemblance between Sinatra's art and Milstein's. Milstein's tone had its detractors, as did Sinatra's voice. But who could fault the style, impeccably suave and aristocratic? They shared a way of arriving on a high or low note with a sudden change of color and shift of the harmonic spectrum that had the same imperious effect as a gyroscope twisting your hand. One such note, and you recognized Milstein—or Sinatra. But both, at other times, could sound almost anonymous. Listen to Milstein play Tchaikovsky's Mélodie and to Sinatra sing Young at Heart, and see if the similarity doesn't strike you.

“Milstein recorded many of these pieces more than once; and although his stylings remained remarkably consistent (unlike his readings of the masterworks, which continuously evolved throughout his lifetime), these recordings, made in 1956 and 1957, when Milstein was in his early fifties, are the locus classicus for each. And the digital remastering of the original tapes has opened up some individual pieces, like Bach's Air, that originally seemed closed in on themselves. Some of these works appeared in The Art of Nathan Milstein, EMI Classics 6-ZDMF 64830 (where Milstein's tone occasionally sounded too strident for the well-oiled machinery that produced it—a problem the new issue seems to have addressed), but many of the best of them, like Wienawski's Polonaise, Sarasate's Romanza andaluza, Tchaikovsky's Mélodie, Schumann's Träumerei, and Debussy's Maid with the Flaxen Hair, are finally available for the first time in CD format. The disc, with the same cover as the old Vignettes LP, also includes pieces from Milstein Miniatures (Capitol P 8339). There's no release of any kind I've more eagerly awaited, and none that I could recommend more highly.

“When all's said and done,...it would come as no surprise to me if Milstein were to be recognized as the premiere violinist of the 20th century. If anything can hasten that judgment, these recordings can. They give palpable meaning to Paul Stoeving's question about the violin, whether it was not as if, for once, man had somehow grasped the ideal hidden in the heart of God."

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And wrote the critic R.F. in his review for the May 1958 issue of The Gramophone:

“I am not too confident that I can recognise a vignette when I hear one. The category seems to include old-time arrangements like Bach's Air on llw G string, interesting novelties such as Ravel's Berceuse on the name Gabriel Faure which is new to the L.P. catalogue, with some fireworks that Wieniawski originally intended should have orchestral accompaniment at the beginning and end. The Tchaikovsky Melodie is not, as you might expect, an arrangement of the Andante cantabile, but one of the three little pieces Tchaikovsky actually wrote for violin and piano (Op. 42), and Milstein might consider one day recording the whole set.

“It would be pointless to say too much of the musical content of a record such as this, because it will be bought for the fiddle playing rather than the music. At his best Milstein is superb ; for instance in the Wieniawski pieces, Trdurnerei, and the delightful Sarasate dance. He does not seem to feel the Ravel, which he plays much too fast, or the slow bits in the wellknown Falla iota, and he is given such a "virtuoso" balance that he sounds quite loud even when he is probably playing softly. He seems right on top of the listener; one can hear him breathing, and when, as at the end of the Ravel the piano has the tune, the intended effect is not realised. For some reason the balance seems much better in the rather attractive Novâcek Perpetuum mobile, which is magically played.”

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CONDITION – PLEASE READ VERY CAREFULLY:

The gradations of condition I use are as follows: MINT, Near-Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.

The condition of the jacket is VERY GOOD. There is a minor bend to the upper-right corner, as well as slight bumping to the corners in general. There is also slight edgewear and mild discoloration to the rear panel. However, there are no seamsplits, bends, or owners' markings, and the whole remains solid, bright, glossy, and highly attractive – overall, this rates as a very good collector's copy.

The condition of the LP itself is EXCELLENT. Though there is some occasional light surface noise, in general the playback is quite fine. However, those wanting a flawless or near-MINT copy are kindly advised to look elsewhere. Overall, this rates as an excellent collector's copy.