From Russia to the West: The Musical Memoirs and Reminiscences of Nathan Milstein (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Solomon Volkov (Author), Antonia W. Bouis (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At age 87 violinist Milstein is the last surviving member of an amazing group of emigre Russian musical personages--including Vladimir Horowitz, Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Rachmaninov and George Balanchinefair to call Mr. B. a musician?/no;see fix above.gs --who blazed across the world music scene for 50 years. His acerbic, highly opinionated memoir tells excellent stories about all of them as well as many others. It is also a revealing account of life in Odessa and Leningrad before, during and after the Revolution, and of the struggles even such phenomenally gifted people initially faced in making their way in the West. Milstein, as might be expected, is extremely sour about the Soviet regime, and his contempt extends to some of its most notable artists; a pity, because his views are otherwise fresh and winningused above in American Cassandra/see fix.gs , and unmarred by the excessive ego that often overcomes such memoirs. Coauthor Volkoff is the musicologist who created a dramatic book out of Dmitryper Web Shostakovich's Testament , and his skills are much in evidence here: Milstein's stories flow gracefully and are compulsively readable.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

One of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, Milstein is at 87 possibly the last active representative of the important school of Russian violinists (Heifetz and Elman among them) taught by Leopold Auer befor World War I. Milstein's memoirs begin with his student days in pre-revolutionary Russia and cover his still viable concert career. Keen of memory, sharp of perception, Milstein avoids the personal details of his life, instead devoting each chapter to an individual who was either close to or admired by him, e.g., Horowitz, Kreisler, Stravinsky, and Rachmaninov, among others. As topics, they serve as focal points for numerous asides and digressions--political as well as artistic. His writing style is informal, almost improvisatory, perhaps reflecting conversational sessions with coauthor Volkov; and Milstein's blunt, often acerbic opinions and judgments pepper his anecdotes, providing lively and stimulating reading.
- Susan Kagan, Hunter Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (June 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0712645497
• ISBN-13: 978-0805009743
• ASIN: 0805009744
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #228,524 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Milstein tells entertaining musical anecdotes, December 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: From Russia to the West: The Musical Memoirs and Reminiscences of Nathan Milstein (Paperback)

This is compulsory reading for Milstein admirers, and violinists alike. Milstein tells stories of his musical encounters with musicians such as Horowitz, Ysaye, Rachmaninoff, Piatigorsky, Oistrakh, Auer (to name a few) that are irresistable. In fact, the whole book is full of such anecdotes. For violinist, it is especially thrilling to read section where Milstein draws his list of Favorite Concerto. If you're a violin enthusiast, but do not know much about Milstein, this is reccommended. But of course, there are some drawbacks - this is translated from the original Russian version, and the English here is not fantastic all the time (sometimes, it has fishy grammar). Those who are serious in researching in the topic of violinists, I have this to say: Milstein doesn't mean to teach the reader. He is not like a pedagogue-on-paper like Menuhin in his "Unfinished Journey" (by the way,incidentally, I never managed to finsh reading the book!). In fact, some people think Milstein is mysteriously silent on this topic of imparting violinistic knowledge. Anyway, this book was not intended to teach SERIOUSLY. It was meant, actually, to entertain VIOLINISTICALLY. So long it has achieved its purpose, your money has been well spent.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening and refreshingly honest, November 6, 2002

By	Scott68 (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

Memoirs from one of the greatest violinists ever, Mr Milstein speaks about the great musicians and composers he knew: Ysaye, Kreisler, Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, Prokofiev, Glazunov, Heifetz, Oistrakh, Piatigorsky, Shostakovich, all in there!

I learned so so much about the great musicians and composers from Milstein's era from this book: not recommended but an essential and manditory posession for any musician and especially violin players.

Intriguing words indeed from the violinist's violinist.