How Nathan Milstein Inspired My Virtuoso 'Variations on a Birthday Theme' Duet

December 20, 2024, 1:41 PM · When I was living in London, between 1974-1985, I was so lucky to have been a protege and friend of violinist Nathan Milstein. I cannot even recall how many hours I spent at his beautiful, elegant home on Chester Square, playing for him and even more importantly - watching him play for me!

A photo Milstein signed for me.

To observe his playing close-hand was incredibly inspiring: watching his inventive technique and the little "tricks" he used, which made difficult passages seem easy.

He was particularly fond of the two-octave "one-string arpeggio" ending in a harmonic. He was like a magician or Olympic athlete, with his fingers flying effortlessly up the fingerboard. Major, minor or diminished 7th, the effect was amazing; and it transposed to any string, so the keys were multiplied and the usage vast.

I was so inspired by his technique, I began to make arrangements of my own.

These arrangements actually interested CBS Records enough for them to make an LP (good old vinyl days!) of me performing them, entitled Departures released in 1983 (you can listen to those audio tracks here); but that’s another story. I only I mention it to illustrate that my arranging "chops" were really heightened by 1984, which is when this story begins.

In very late November of 1984, I received a phone call from my dear friend Sherry Kloss. She had studied with Milstein and was also an important assistant of Jascha Heifetz.

She asked me if I was going to attend a gala 80th birthday celebration for Milstein in New York City on December 7th.

I replied that it was unlikely, as I was busy in London. I asked what was planned for the event, and she said that a group of great violinists were going to perform - Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, Glenn Dicterow, Erick Friedman, Daniel Heifetz, Dylana Jenson, Sherry herself, Anahid Ajemian, Syoko Aki, Gabriel Banat, Kenneth Gordon, Guy Lumia, Alexander Schneider, Masako Yanagita and Robert Davidovici.

She told me they were going to play the Bach "Preludio" from the 3rd Partita (this was one of Milstein’s favorite encores).

"What, in UNISON?" I asked incredulously. "Yes," was her reply.

"Why doesn’t someone write something special for him?" I asked.

"Why don’t YOU?" she responded.

And that’s when the idea for these variations was sparked - and I knew I would definitely be traveling to New York.

I imagined Paganini and Wieniawski hearing the tune "Happy Birthday" - what might they have done with that? After all, arranging a popular tune of the time was common for violinists and other virtuosos back in their day.

Instead of a solo piece, I envisioned these two giants of the violin having a "duel" in the form of a duet, in which neither would be playing "second" violin. The parts would switch off, so no egos would be bruised!

I decided on the friendly key of G Major and proceeded to look through many pieces by the two legends. Amazingly, there were many passages that fit right in with the birthday theme!

I was so inspired that I sat down and wrote the piece overnight. Here are all the virtuoso "treats" I put into the variations:

Variation 1: Paganini "Nel cor piu non mi, sento."
Variation 2: "Nel cor piu non mi, sento" and Paganini 6th Caprice
Variation 3: (Milstein’s favorite variation because of the one-string arpeggios) Wieniawski Caprice in A Minor
Variation 4: Paganini 24th Caprice - left-hand pizzicato
Variation 5: actually didn’t exist in 1984, as it was specifically written for the 80th birthday of Henri Temianka in 1986, but it is exactly based on the Wieniawski "Scherzo Tarantelle"
Variation 6: just freestyle Dukov
Variation 7: Paganini "God Save the King" with a nod to the Jakob Dont Etude #4
Finale, Paganini 16th Caprice (in G Major!) with a tip of the hat at the end, to the Bach "Preludio"!

After my fervent night of writing, I then engaged an amazing copyist, whose calligraphy looked like engraved printing, to put it all on paper. This had to be done in one week.

I wanted to give everyone a recording as well as the sheet music, so I also convinced a friend and colleague named Mike Moran, a spectacular composer/studio keyboard musician, to record me playing both parts - which he did at his home studio. This was a real challenge, as the technology we used was quite basic - without the use of ProTools or the advanced recording techniques we have today.

I then sent the cassette recording and music to New York, with my ideas about how all this would work. I thought the Theme would be performed by everyone, then pairs of violinists would play each variation.

However, due to the shortness of time to learn the piece, there was reticence on behalf of some of the violinists, who did not want to be "featured" in pairing off, so the group was split into two groups, and played that way. I sat with Itzhak Perlman.

Bruce Dukov and Itzhak Perlman, performing at the Milstein birthday gala.

It was somewhat messy, due to the complexity of the writing, but it was great fun and received with uproarious applause by the large audience! Sadly, there was no video or sound recording made of the event.

It was such a great honor to present a beautiful leather-bound copy of the score to Milstein, who was very touched by it. He was so grateful, that he organized a special dinner party for my wife and me in London two weeks later! (see photo)

L-R: Harold Shaw (manager), Kay Dukov, Therese Milstein, Nathan Milstein, Maria Milstein. Note the portrait of Milstein above his daughter’s head! I took the picture, hence my absence in the photo.

Some years later, a 14-year-old named Hilary Hahn fell in love with the piece, and performed it with another student named Jasmine Lin at the Curtis Institute and then at the Marlboro Music Festival. I have a recording of this, along with a beautiful handwritten note from her!

Many years later, with the benefits of modern technology, I created this video of the Birthday Variations, "Dukov vs. Dukov"! I offer it in celebration of the 120th birthday this month of my teacher and friend, the great violinist Nathan Milstein. I hope you enjoy.

EDITOR's NOTE: If you'd like to play Bruce's birthday variations - or at least have a try at it - Bruce is offering a rather generous discount in celebration of his mentor's birthday, 50% off, using the code MILSTEIN80 through 12/31/24. Click here to purchase the music.

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How Nathan Milstein Inspired My Virtuoso 'Variations on a Birthday Theme' Duet

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