This DVD item from Christopher Nupen was reviewed on 27-Oct-2008.
Nathan Milstein - In Portrait Reference DVD. Classifications : General Classical Styles Music Chamber Music Forms & Genres Classical (c.1770-1830) Historical Periods Classical Styles Music General Documentary Genres DVD Video General Music Video & Concerts Genres . Click the following link to view the cover of Nathan Milstein - In Portrait. Related topics: General. Classical. Styles. Music. Chamber Music. Forms & Genres. Historical Periods. Classical. Styles. Music. requestid: ae0c7888-4c37-4658-b187-a9d0b35284b9
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1) DVD DVD Nathan Milstein - In Portrait by Christopher Nupen. Fantastic! Five stars aren´t enough. Candid interviews reveal Mr. Milstein´s humbleness and an insight to his great talent. The sound quality and camera angles are very good. Close-ups of Mr. Milstein´s playing are educational for all skill levels.¤ 2) DVD DVD Nathan Milstein - In Portrait by Christopher Nupen. Thanks to good genes and formidable physical and mental strength, Nathan Milstein was still sounding fantastic into his eighties. All I can say is Thank the gods for Christopher Nupen. Milstein objected to doing the film for many years and finally, and literally JUST in the nick of time, it was done. This 2-DVD set is tremendous. For years, it was only available on a single videotape - and I don´t think all of the footage was included. Personally, I am not real big on Nupen´s intros to each part. He´s made a number of great films, but he just seems like an old windbag. Nearly everything he says in his intros is covered in the program notes AND in the film itself! If there is any real fault to the discs, it would have to be in the menu format. You can´t use the ´Play All´ feature unless you´re willing to fast-forward or sit through 10 minutes of clips from other Nupen films, good though they may be.
The two-part program on the first DVD is fine. Although Milstein is in my top five favorite violinists, I never have read the book he wrote, so I learned tons about him. His accent is thick but understandable if you´re a violinist and already familiar with the man and his art. I would´ve liked to see a bit more about Milstein´s development as an artist - and hear him talk a bit more about the non-violinistic things he did to become such a cultured, educated person in addition to being one of the greatest fiddlers. The portions with Pinchas Zukerman are nice. The portions with Nupen asking questions are a little drab...I wish Zukerman had asked all the questions since Nupen is obviously not well-schooled in the violin. The Kennedy Center Honors clip was a nice inclusion - I´m glad they gave one to Milstein. No one deserved it more. Also included are commentary by the lovely Terese Milstein (who, like her husband, was ageless...but I wish she´d said even more), and violinist Yuri Nagai (a student of Milstein´s...check out her flying hair as she plays the Paganini Caprice #13 for him...and check out how strict a teacher he was!!)
I wish the second DVD had footage of the entire recital. Instead, only the Bach Chaconne and Kreutzer Sonata are included...again with Nupen´s fatherly wisdom at the beginning. It woulda been better if they´d shown the entire recital - jeez, I can only begin to imagine the thrill I would have gotten if I´d been able to see the whole thing including the standing ovation at the end. Instead, the other pieces played were incorporated into the documentary. Okay, fine, but at least give us the full recital as an option too.
The pieces include Moussorgsky´s "Hopak", Sarasate "Intro and Tarantella", Paganini Caprices #5 and 13, Handel Sonata in A major, Bach Chaconne, Allegro Assai from Bach Sonata #3, Liszt-Milstein Consolation #1, Tchaikovsky-Milstein "Mazeppa" aria, Prokofiev-Milstein "Old Grandmother´s Tales", Kreutzer Sonata. Georges Pludermacher is the competent piano partner; Pludermacher was already playing with the great old master when he was in his twenties. The fact that Milstein chose him is a testament to Pludermacher´s virtuosity as well. Indeed, Milstein plays everything with the same panache and perfection that he did more than 70 years prior. There´s no way that Paganini, if he´d lived into old age, would´ve been able to perform his own Caprices even half as well as Milstein did at age 82. You do not criticize Nathan Milstein´s playing. You rejoice that it existed.
Five stars for the music, but only 3 stars for the DVD set itself (which averages to 4 stars.)¤ 3) DVD DVD Nathan Milstein - In Portrait by Christopher Nupen. Let me preface by saying that Nathan Milstein is one of my favorite violinists. I like his sound, like his interpretations, and love his technique. I may be biased in my views toward him, but I feel like this musical portrait is a worthy view for any classical music fan.
The first disc contains some conversations and interviews that Christopher Nupen conducted with Milstein. There´s really nothing provocative here. Milstein was widely known as a simple and humble artist, and he does nothing to refute that statement in the conversations. My only real complaint is that there are no English subtitles available; sometimes it is difficult to understand Milstein. Of course, there is also the surreal "chat" between Pinchas Zukerman and Milstein. Zukerman does his best Chris Farley impression, serving up softball questions to a Milstein that almost seems annoyed by the whole process. What little insight and/or anecdotes that is provided is basically rehashed from Milstein´s memoirs "From Russia to the West" by Solomon Volkov. If you are a serious Milstein or Violin fan, try to find a copy of the book instead of watching this video.
The second disc contains complete performances of Beethoven´s Kreutzer Sonata and the Bach Chaconne from Milstein´s last public recital. By that time, Milstein was in his 80´s and almost undoubtedly the greatest octogenarian violinist virtuoso of all time :). Sadly, the other pieces he played in the recital, most notably the Sarasate Introduction and Tarantelle, are only shown in clips during disc 1. I was hoping this DVD would just show the film for the entire recital, but the Kreutzer and Chaconne are a good compromise. There is also a little section of the Milstein conversations where he opens up about the Chaconne. This truly does provide insight into the artist that perhaps played the Chaconne better than anyone ever has.
In summary, get this DVD for the wonderful recital footage of the Kreutzer and the Chaconne. Watch the first disc for comic relief (why did Pinchas Zukerman feel the need to wear aviator sunglasses when he introduced Nathan Milstein at the Kennedy Center Honors Banquet?).¤ 4) DVD DVD Nathan Milstein - In Portrait by Christopher Nupen. Nathan Milstein was one of the 20th century´s greatest violinists, his technique polished to perfection, his musical interpretations profound. He was also unique among star performers in being relatively publicity-shy. So Christopher Nuppen´s "portrait" offers a rare, valuable glimpse into the man´s personality and his penetrating observations about his instrument and music, along with an abundance of anecdotes and reminiscences reflecting his 73 years of public performances, itself an amazing record. In that time, he knew a galaxy of legendary composers and musicians. A student of Leopold Auer, he was friends with Glazunov, Rachmaninoff, Ysaye, Horowitz, and many others who figure in the stories he tells in this documentary´s interview segments. Riveting too, are Milstein´s stories about concertizing in the early days of the Soviet Union, giving concerts in factories to workers who didn´t appreciate Bach. It all adds up to a fascinating film which includes his last concert, recorded by Swedish television, that features sterling performances of Beethoven´s Kreutzer Sonata and the Bach Chaconne. The interview materials are interspersed with filmed performances of short works that show off Milstein´s dazzling command of his instrument. Milstein´s reputation for severity is belied by the warm, humorous man we see spinning amusing stories and well-thought-out observations. In conversation with Pinchas Zuckerman, he speaks of the importance of "invention," the need of performers to constantly reinvent their approach to a piece by such means as changing their fingering to discover new ways of keeping their interpretations fresh. This is illustrated by the concert film on disc 2, when finger pain forced him to revise his left-hand fingering with no discernable effect on the technical or musical results. In itself, this was a remarkable feat for a violinist who, at 86, was already playing at the highest level at an age when violinists have been long retired because the inroads of age have shredded their technique. To Milstein, though, it was nothing special. He says he often modified his fingering, even on stage during a performance. Nuppen, whose previous films sometimes go too far in trying to show musicians as ordinary folks and which sometimes slip into the hagiographic mode, is more restrained here, as fits his subject, a great musician whose life and art are so well portrayed in this fine documentary. --Dan Davis¤ Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 24-Nov-2008, 814446010024, NEB-BEB-OGB-JMB-LKB-1YB-UYB-8 
Nathan Milstein - In Portrait, DVD, Image © Christopher Nupen
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