Many renditions of this piece are played correctly on note and tempo. I've listened to many. Mr. Milstein gives an organic life to his playing that seems to transport us into another realm like a good film that makes us forget we're in theater.
I believe it is called musicianship and artistry. Or perhaps even more importantly: freedom to create. Nowadays, any violinist who might deviate from the conformist rules of orchestras or solo competitions would be cast aside and forgotten. There are so many great ways to play Bach and it is a shame only a few violinists seek to explore that vast universe.
Nathan soothe and comfort me. Standard and Stablizer. Too Ordinary and Simple. Go beyond Transcendence. To God be the Glory. Praise the Lord Jesus. Hallelujah.
I really love this piece, have listened thousands of times in my lifetime, and Milstein's is always my best. i can enjoy other's play too, sincerely for sure, love Kremer, Grimiaux, Perlman, Stern, Menuhin etc, accept they all have their own beauty, charm and grace, but in the end, i return to Milstein's. He's not even my favorite violinist! Truly legendary interpretation. Music, or figure of music, I-ears, or just spirit, and 'nothing', that's all.
Hi, I agree with you about always coming back to Milstein, but which version? If you haven't heard them, you might enjoy Sandor Vegh's recordings, hey are powerful and insightful.
Oh my god... Words cannot sufficiently describe the magic this man has created with his violin. Absolutely gorgeous. This is truly the sound of heaven itself.
I've never listened to Milstein's unaccompanied Bach without being profoundly impressed with his thorough understanding at what Bach intended. The result is magisterial in the extreme, and it is certain we will never hear Milstein's equal in a very long time, if ever.
Never before have I heard someone so intensely make a sonata their bitch. He just SENT IT with that first chord and kept that same energy the whole way through.
I love Milstein's interpretation because it's so Milstein-esque. When people hear his rendition they recognize his style. He takes a lot of interesting temporal liberties, but that's what I like about it: it's very unique and refreshing to me. I bet this is exactly how he hears it in his head, and what a tribute to Bach that he internalized this music like he has! My favorite Milstein is his C major fugue- brilliant! Thanks for posting this, aimson!
Milstein's version is great, but I personally prefer the heat and harmonic fantasy of Heifetz. BTW, Enescu's rendering is one of the most trascendental violin playing I have ever heard.
I liked his interpretation of the 2nd part of the chaconne (the only one I found on youtube). You can see my comment on that page. However, Milstein has a profound impact on me, especially his chaconne. There's something raw and powerful in his playing that cuts straight to my core. Sitkovetsky plays very cleanly and introspectively (not fast and fierce imo), but he also holds back. He needs to free his emotions a bit more and really show us what he has to say.
You're welcome. The first sonata is my second favorite Bach piece, after the second partita. All I can say is that the second movement (fugue) is much harder to play than it sounds. However, for me, it is more intense and emotion-evoking than even the chaconne. Heifetz currently has my favorite version of it, followed by Menuhin and Milstein. I am still trying to find a copy of Enesco playing, but unfortunately my teacher couldn't find it last time I saw him.
Talent is simply interest combined with effort. "Hidden talent" is just interest that hasn't been discovered yet and with exposure and work, it can be developed. If you're interested in something, you can learn it. You already have all the talent you need. If it makes you tired and bored to learn something, that would be the opposite of talent.
Hilary Hahn explains it well. Some people do things intuitively. Others must work to learn things. But having to work is a blessing, because you will understand what you have learned. Those with "talent" often run into problems later through their lack of understanding. Your body and instrument can change. Understanding allows you to adapt. True talent is simply interest, patience, and discipline combined. Nothing more.
This is excellent! :) I will be learning this Sonata on my own. I love the Bach sonatas, playing all is my violin dream, I wish I can do it close to this good!
lol. I love Milstein's style, but at the same time I can't help thinking "come on, man, this isn't a partita!" (e.g. 5:48, 4:30) around 7:30 I love how he's taking this section... very mysterious and kinda scary. It sounds like he's beginning his slurs up-bow which is kinda cool... even if he's not, and I'm wrong.
People don't work hard to obtain talent, they are born with it. Whether or not God blesses people with their talent or not is subjective, but talent isn't something you earn, it's something you're born with. However, the reason Milstein and other artists at his level are so great is because they put a great deal of effort into developing their already existent talents. Talent and skill are two different things. Talent is essentially one's ability to improve.
Bottom line...it's all subjective and a matter of individuals tastes combined with their levels of understanding, scholarship and musicianship. I also find that something or someone that I found to be the "ultimate" often changes as I continue to grow and learn as a musician. Sometimes I come back to the original thought, but often I move on...What I do know is that I have the deepest respect for what these revered musician have done and are doing...it is....an on going process. Thoughts?
Music with no trace of the schmaltz. Arguably, to date it's Milstein and Szeryng. Not Heifetz and Menuhin. Bach is not Paganini, playing his solo pieces is about virtuosity with emotional restraint, total respect for authorship.
Actually I really like Szeryng (including his bach), i've seen your comments and i know you don't like him, but he's actually one of my favorite violinists. Is it really more difficult than the chaconne? I thought the chaconne was the most difficult piece for violin by Bach.
I also think that Szeryng's playing is superb when it comes to Bach. I am also not the only person who thinks that - the violinist Victor Pikaisen (one of the favourite, and perhaps most prominent pupils of David Oistrakh) has said that Szeryng's interpretations of Bach were supreme. This isn't to say anything about Milstein by the way - I consider this recording by Milstein to be one of the best performances of the first sonata ever recorded.
Actually I agree with Aimson. I play both this Adagio piece and Chaconne. Although Chaconne is much longer and harder to play consistently, I sound a lot better playing it than playing the Adagio because the chordings get extremely awkward toward the ending. The slow tempo scrutinizes consistent bowing, which is very easy for one to screw up on.
The chaconne isn't that difficult to play, if all you are concerned about is getting the notes clean and in tune. This is the only thing Szeryng does well in his playing. I think the difficulty has a lot more to do with understanding the music in depth and being able to communicate the emotions to the listener. You could dedicate your whole life to playing the "holy grail of violin," as Steinhardt describes it.
Lol i saw Henryk Szeryng playing the fugue and i was like "wow that piece is amazing i'm going to learn it" then i got the sheet music for it and i was like "damn nevermind" lol. It's probably one of the hardest bach pieces for violin. I like the chaconne better though, the fugue is my 2nd favorite.
i don't know. i never to practice much, but my teacher thought i was the most able of her students.i practiced less and less until now i'm not that great at all. was i talented back then? what saddens me most really is that there's talk of "talent" when there's no distinction being made between innate ability, practiced skill, understanding, creativity or appreciation. really, it seems that the only reason people are bickering is because everyone has a different idea of what the word means.
Well, self-conscious is not what I meant. I guess introspective to me is playing thoughtfully and carefully with a great deal of emphasis on personal meaning. Not too much flash or outward emotion or with too much emphasis on technique - just unique and pensive. I think this describes Sitkovetsky's playing quite well. Never heard of Ehnes.
Menuhin and Milstein play as Russians do.I don't remember Heifetz making music using his talent to bring out the Slav roundness that only a violin has.. Thank you. Sergelew
Well ironically neither Menuhin, Milstein or Heifetz had slavic blood [as far as I remember they were all 100% jews, maybe not 100% but through their family line they were almost entirely jews]. This of course isn't to demean the point of your comment, which I think was 'Menuhin and Milstein's playing is representative of this league and era of great violinists, with Toscha Seidel, most of Auer's late pupils, e.t.c.' - the other thing is where Russians do shine is in two aspects: (a) Music - russian composers [truly russian] are utterly brilliant (b) Russian poetry [although quite majorly jewish still!] is absolutely top of the world
If I had to class violinists on their playing of Bach, I'd have to place Milstein, Menuhin, Grimiaux, and Kremer on top. Stern and Perlman get honerable mentions~
no offence to either one of you but please listen to this: "Bach concerto for two violins BWV 1043. II" Yehudi Menuhin. David Oistrakh. it might change your opinion. if not thats ok but it is definitely worth listening to. thanks :-)
Excellent everything except intonation. It's kind of shocking to hear Milstein play out of tune so often but his interpretation and tone are just so great
Well, I was talking more about the Fugue moreso than the Adagio, which is more about timing. I was playing the Fugue last night and my left hand nearly fell off. It's really damn hard to play...
My violin was made by a guy named Kapfhammer. He is probably more well known in the Bay Area - most of my teacher's students have Kapfhammers, though they range about 10-15 thousand dollars. This is cheap for the quality. I remember there was one he made that was absolutely phenomenal - it sounded like a half million dollar violin. Anyways, you probably aren't looking to pay 15 grand for a violin, maybe somebody else knows more about violins :)
Um... do you not like Szeryng? >,> Technically you never stated that exact phrase in your passage. But I wouldn't know how to respond to that, either, since I'm not so well educated in the study of music, much less violins and famed violinists. So... yep! Sry.. ^_^;; I just thought the sound Szeryng made was pretty, I didn't really reference his Bach to anything else. But okay, it's nice I know your opinion, and perhaps the majority of classical enthusiasts.
You can be a good music critic without actually being a musician! just as you can comment on the skill of a footballer without being to play football yourself. Evey time someone makes a valid constructive criticism on RU-vid they get the the onslaught 'lets hear you play it then'.
Speak professionally? No, that was simply how I could best describe the impact the piece made on me. I'd rather sound eloquent than say, "Yo this shiznit is tite... Milstein is da bomb." Because then I could simply lose all respect for myself.
This talk of talent with all of you is depressing. My teacher in our lesson always said i was a very quick learner and have this innate ability with the violin unlike others. What she doesn't know is that i just practice more than most. Does that mean I am of no talent now?
The fuga is much too lively, and too fast. He neglects the voices because he's trying to make it sound too bouncy- I prefer Szeryng a great deal to this. Still, he plays it all beautifully.
For me the choice is not even a choice at all. To give Szeryng any credence is to give up everything I ever believed and felt about Bach. No, there is no choice or comparison between the two in my own opinion. One is a first-rate violinist who has touched the hearts of millions, including my own, and one is a fake and a hack "violinist" who doesn't deserve credit for anything remotely related to Bach. I cringe every time his name is mentioned.
Plenty of intelligent, successful, highly educated and *good* people were and are Christian. I'm not Christian myself but I do care that Bach was Christian, because it affected a lot of his musical decisions -- especially his fundamental decision to devote himself to writing valuable music and not to crowd-pleasing. Also, your enraged rambling is a lot more incoherent than a lot of the beliefs of the very religion you discount. Two wrongs surely don't make a right.
It is harder to play technically than the chaconne. Just playing the chords in tune is tough enough... I've just memorized it and actually enjoy playing it more than the chaconne simply because it is shorter. My advice is to stay away from Szeryng. Stick with the real masters of violin instead.
