Ukrainian and American violinist.
Biography.
Nathan Milstein was born into a large family far from music (his father, Myron Milstein, sold woolen fabrics at the Gurlyand & K company; his mother, Maria Blushtein, was a housewife; the family had seven children). He studied violin at the school of Pyotr Stolyarsky until 1914, then studied at the Petrograd Conservatory with Leopold Auer. In 1920, Milstein gave his first concert in Odesa, and in the same year he performed Alexander Glazunov's Violin Concerto under the baton of the composer. Over the next five years, the violinist improved his skills and performed in the USSR, often in concerts with Vladimir Horowitz, with Horowitz's sister Regina accompanying Milstein. In 1925, Milstein and Horowitz went on tour abroad and decided not to return home. During these years, the musicians became friends with cellist Grigory Pyatigorsky, who had also emigrated from the USSR shortly before, and sometimes performed in a trio.
Soon Milstein settled in Brussels, where he was warmly received by Eugène Izai. Three years later, the musician performed for the first time in New York with the Philharmonic Orchestra of this city, his concerts were a great success, and he soon moved to the United States, where he performed for the next few years. After the Second World War, having already become a US citizen (1942), Milstein resumed performing in Europe. In 1945, he married Teresa Kaufman. Milstein continued to give concerts and master classes until 1988, when he broke his arm in a fall.
Creative work
Milstein is considered to be one of the greatest representatives of the classical Russian violin school of the 20th century, and at the same time the least "Russian" among them. This opinion was formed because of the violinist's purely intellectual style of playing. Milstein had a perfect technique and a good sense of form and style. Using a carefully practiced vibrato technique and frequent changes in the direction of the bow, he achieved a special, warm and sincere sound.
Milstein is the author of a number of original works for violin, including the Paganiniana, composed in 1954, and cadenzas to concertos by Beethoven and other composers. Together with S. Volkov, he wrote a book of memoirs "From Russia to the West" (published in 1990 in New York).
Performing with leading orchestras and conductors, Milstein gave numerous concerts around the world and made a number of recordings of works by Mendelssohn, Bruch, Tchaikovsky and other composers. Many of his recordings have been released on CD. He is most famous for his performances of music for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach, for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance in 1975. Among Milstein's other awards was the title of Officer of the Legion of Honor (1968).
Milstein's cousin is the American film director Lewis Milestone.
