Feliks Janiewicz – Complete Violin Concertos
An album released by the National Forum of Music, recorded by Bartłomiej Nizioł and Wrocław Baroque Orchestra conducted by Andrzej Kosendiak, featuring the complete violin concertos by Feliks Janiewicz, including the world premiere recording of Concerto No. 2 in E major.
Date of release: 7.08.2026
Publishers: National Forum of Music, CD Accord
Conductor: Andrzej Kosendiak
Performers: Bartłomiej Nizioł, Wrocław Baroque Orchestra
Janiewicz’s concertos belong to the early phase of the brillant style, which was developing in violin music at that time, thanks in part to the Polish virtuoso. The modernity of this music was not easy for contemporary listeners; one young Englishwoman described it as ‘perhaps too beautiful’, as she was overwhelmed by the extended solo parts. The brillant style spread through guitar music (concertos with orchestra by Mauro Giuliani and his performances in Vienna) to piano music. Even Beethoven attempted to adapt the superficial features of the style, which, however, reached its most mature form in the works of Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Fryderyk Chopin. The brillant style, an era of virtuosity that prepared the ground for the upcoming Romanticism, was a not-so-short phase in the history of music, lasting approximately half a century. The foundations for its development were laid by, among others, Feliks Janiewicz, and brilliantly summarised by Fryderyk Chopin. Both worked mostly outside Poland, but neither forgot their roots. The affiliation of their achievements with Polish culture is beyond doubt, and to this day they remain its timeless ambassadors.
Krzysztof Komarnicki
