Henri Wieniawski

Of Henryk Wieniawski's two concert polonaises for violin and orchestra (or piano), the earlier -- the Polonaise de concert in D major, Op. 4 -- is probably the better known. Wieniawski was himself, of course, a Pole, and that he should -- in 1852, during his first attempts to secure international recognition -- put together a show-stopping, virtuosic example of his country's most famous dance form is hardly surprising. What might surprise some (at least those who hold Wieniawski in the low esteem awarded to nearly all virtuoso performer/composers) is the fact that, Chopin's polonaises aside, Wieniawski's first polonaise is among the finest examples of its breed to visit concert halls with any frequency. The energetic rhythmic ideas have backbone (as at the very opening: has ever an eight-bar phrase moved with such speed through so many individual characters without losing sight of its musical goal?), the less robust melodies suppleness and grace; and the polonaise's tendency to hover in a near-schizophrenic fashion on the border between heroism and deep melancholy is given full play. There is plenty of ear-candy for those that demand instant gratification: the piece is not easy to play, and Wieniawski has made sure that nobody in the audience could possibly miss the fact -- he had a reputation and a career to build, after all.