Wieniawski Legende

While we were visiting Orlando, Florida, we arranged for our son to take a lesson from his teacher who is back in Florida for his winter vacation. It's been almost three weeks since he had a lesson. He was supposed to be given a new piece to work on, and Wieniawski's Legende is one of the pieces his teacher gave him this time. When he played it for my son, we both immediately noticed the melody. I said to him, "I've heard this before!" and he replied, "Of course, it is very famous piece. Oistrakh, Heifetz, Vengerov, they recorded it." Among a few CDs I have, I didn't own a CD that contains this piece. So, I ordered The Devil's Trill by Oistrakh. My son's teacher also suggested Vengerov's, so I think I'll order that next. Today, I happened to find a CD store when we were out and about and found Anne-Sophie Mutter's Legende in her CD titled Romance. From the recording year, I'm assuming it was recording about 30 years ago. Oistrakh's recording was with piano, but hers was with orchestra. It is interesting to listen to both. Accompaniment changes the piece entirely. I listened to her CD in the car on the way home. It is very passionate, I thought where Oistrakh's playing was more mysterious in a sense that takes me into my inner self. My son's been humming this piece the entire day. That is a good sign. Seems like he likes it a lot. I like it, too. It is a show piece, yet is not overplayed by many. Hope he can conquer the mind blowing descending chromatic scale part.