His playing style, characterized by fast vibrato, audible shifting noises, and superb bow control, has been compared to that of Jascha Heifetz.
His teachers included Adolfo Betti, Demetrius Constantine Dounis, Adolf Busch and Ivan Galamian.
[5] Although Nadien had little experience of orchestral playing, Bernstein praised his unusually acute sight-reading skills and called him "an extraordinary violinist.
"[3] He left the orchestra in 1970 and resumed more lucrative studio work in New York, where he recorded strings for artists such as Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Chaka Khan, Don McLean, Nina Simone, Sinéad O'Connor and Tony Bennett.
[3] Nadien owned the "Prince of Orange, Wald, Hoffmann" violin, made by Guarneri del Gesù in about 1743, until he sold it in 1967.