NATHAN MILSTEIN sonatas & partitas BACH 1stPress 1957 US CAPITOL 3LP Box MINT

$

949

Nathan Milstein, violin ...

J.S. Bach:  Partitas & Sonatas for Unaccompanied Violin

rare US first press vinyl 3LP box set released 1957 on green/gold CAPITOL RECORDS label with catalognumber PCR 8370.

Beautiful box with gold lettering on the spine, original inner sleeves, and vinyl in perfect NEARMINT/MINT condition - vinyl obviously only played once or twice!

Famous violin solo performances by Nathan Milstein recorded in 1956 at Capitol's Studio A, 46th Street New York with true audiophile soundquality ... see photos.

I understand this copy was manufactured by Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Scranton given the following matrix numbers:

Matrix / Runout (Runout side A stamped, var. 2): - P1-8370-D1 ["anvil" logo]
Matrix / Runout (Runout side B stamped, var. 2): - P2-8370-D1 ["anvil" logo]
Matrix / Runout (Runout side C stamped, var. 2): - P3-8370-D1 #2 ["anvil" logo]
Matrix / Runout (Runout side D stamped, var. 2): - P4-8370-D1 #2 ["anvil" logo]
Matrix / Runout (Runout side E stamped, var. 2): - P5-8370-D1 #2 ["anvil" logo]
Matrix / Runout (Runout side F stamped, var. 2): - P6-8370-D1 ["anvil" logo]

Some very intersting background info on Nathan Milstein's legendary performance I found on the web:

"Although Nathan Milstein hailed from Odessa, the cradle of Russian violin playing, his personal style was more classical and intellectual in approach than many of his colleagues. By the middle of the twentieth century he had become one of the most renowned violinists in the world, and he did as much as anyone else to imbue Bach's solo violin partitas and sonatas with the rather mystical aura they have presently. Milstein began to study violin at the age of seven. His first teacher was Pyotr Stolyarsky, who remained with him through 1914. Milstein's last recital as a Stolyarsky pupil included another promising student, the five-year-old David Oistrakh. Milstein then went to the St. Petersburg Conservatory to study with Leopold Auer.

Milstein began his concert career at age ten in Odessa, and soon after he played Glazunov's concerto with the composer conducting. He continued to tour the Soviet Union for the next five years. During this time, Milstein made numerous joint appearances with Vladimir Horowitz, and Horowitz's sister Regina also joined them as Milstein's accompanist. In 1925, Milstein and Horowitz were encouraged by government officials to make a concert trip outside of Russia; Milstein would never return. Milstein recalled in his memoirs that the dramatic "grand manner" of Horowitz immediately made the pianist a star, while Milstein, a much more reserved person, did not have such immediate success. In 1926, he went to Brussels to consult with and discuss matters of interpretation with the great violinist and teacher Ysaÿe.

He made his American debut with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1929, and made his New York debut in 1930. He soon established his base there, eventually becoming a United States citizen in 1942. He may not have become a concert-hall idol like Horowitz, but he had a strong musical reputation and was always in demand. When Arturo Toscanini ended his tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1936, he asked for Milstein as soloist in his final concert. After World War II Milstein made his home primarily in London, teaching master classes around the world. He was widely regarded as a sympathetic and approachable teacher.

He also established a major recording career and remains best known for his landmark recordings of the complete solo works of J.S. Bach, becoming a pioneer of the Bach solo violin literature at a time when few players programmed these pieces, and he eschewed more superficial works that were a primary part of the violin soloist's repertory. His 1950s recording of the Bach solo partitas and sonatas on the American Capitol Records label are exemplary traversals of that great cycle and are still counted as classics of recording art. Milstein maintained a remarkably long career, keeping the muscular strength and fluid joint motion he needed until his retirement at the age of 83, acquiesced to only after he broke his arm in a fall. - Joseph Stevenson

The late Nathan Milstein’s 1975 stereo remake was his own preferred version of these pillars of the violin repertoire with which he had been so associated since his youth in Odessa. But his (broadly faster) mid-Fifties New York account, remastered and restored by EMI, was a famous yardstick of its time – a grandly phrased, aristocratically structured, Romantically resonant statement to treasure beside Menuhin and Heifetz. These are epic virtuoso performances justifying Milstein’s view that with this music the performer could ‘bask in the most glamorous light’. Stylistically, purists will object to their expressive liberty and gesture. But few will be able to resist their artistry or intensity of delivery. - Ates Orga

Nathan Milstein plays these magnificent pieces with patrician elegance, easily overcoming their all-but-insurmountable difficulties. His burnished tone has a warmth like that of mahogany, and his fine finger work and flawless bowing make for an assured connection of ideas. In the Chaconne to the D minor Partita – which can make even a very good violinist sound woefully over matched and inept – he zeroes in with the sort of concentration one thought was reserved for chess champions. Here, as elsewhere in the cycle, Milstein projects not only the music’s emotive force, but Bach’s grand architecture as well. – Ted Libbey"

Tracklist:

Sonata No. 1 In G Minor, BWV 1001
A-1 Adagio
A-2 Fuga
A-3 Sicilana
A-4 Presto
Partita No. 1 In B Minor, BWV 1002
B-1 Allemanda
B-2 Double
B-3 Corrente
B-4 Double. Presto
B-5 Sarabanda
B-6 Double
B-7 Tempo Di Borea
B-8 Double
Sonata No. 2 In A Minor, BWV 1003
C-1 Grave
C-2 Fuga
C-3 Andante
C-4 Allegro
Partita No. 2 In D Minor, BWV 1004
D-1 Allemanda
D-2 Corrente
D-3 Sarabanda
D-4 Giga
D-5 Ciaccona
Sonata No. 3 In C Major, BWV 1005
E-1 Adagio
E-2 Corrente
E-3 Largo
E-4 Allegro Assai
Partita No. 3 In E Major, BWV 1006
F-1 Preludio
F-2 Loure
F-3 Gavotte En Rondeau
F-4 Menuet I
F-5 Menuet I - Menuet II
F-6 Bourrée
F-7 Gigue

PLEASE NOTE:    
I am sure you understand that I will ship this rare set worldwide only via registered & insured express mail by either UPS, FedEx or DHL Express, so the regular cost effective Deutsche Post shipping cost to your country provided by eBay with this listing, and as outlined below does not apply with this set. Happy to provide you with an advance quote.

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I ship worldwide via Deutsche Post / DHL registered airmail packages providing a tracking number. All records will be professionally packed in special "four-lax" cardboard LP-mailers to avoid corner damage, bends or anything alike during shipment. Please contact me for any questions or special requests.

- Save International Shipping Cost by combined shipping: 

     => to EU countries:  $19.90 USD via DHL Paket registered airmail package up to 5kg;  $25.90 USD via DHL Paket registered airmail package up to 10kg

     => to Non-EU countries incl. North America, Asia, Australia ...:    $79.90 USD via DHL Paket registered airmail package up to 10kg 

- Worldwide shipping rates by weight:  

     =>   $8.90 USD via Deutsche Post registered letter airmail up to 500g   (1LP depending on weight)

            .... note that depending on the LPs weight only lighter packaging material can be used => for 100% protection I recommend to ship up to 1kg using strongest packaging materials!

     =>   $15.90 USD via Deutsche Post registered letter airmail up to 1kg   (2-3 LPs depending on weight)

     =>   $29.50 USD via Deutsche Post registered letter airmail up to 2kg   (4-6 LPs depending on weight)

     =>   $57.90 USD via DHL Paket registered airmail package up to 5kg   (15-20 LPs depending on weight)

     =>   $79.90 USD via DHL Paket registered airmail package up to 10kg   (30-40 LPs depending on weight)

Note that for box set LPs the higher weight of boxes and booklets must be taken into account: ... e.g. a 2LP box set's weight can be the same as 3 LPs.  Heavy weight audiophile 180g or 200g pressings may also require higher shipping charges.

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