Reckoned to be second only to Paganini as a violin virtuoso, Wieniawski was born in Lublin to Jewish parents. He was a child prodigy and given special dispensation (due to his not being French and only eight!) to attend the Paris Conservatoire.
He toured in both Europe and America, spent twelve years playing and teaching in St. Petersburg and eventually succeeding Henri Vieuxtemps as professor at the Royal Belgian Conservatoire.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, many of his compositions are short encore type pieces, but there are two substantial violin concertos that have remained very much in the repertory.
Two performances of his showpiece Polonaise de concert: the first, the orchestral version played by the Korean violinist Bomsori Kim:
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… the second, an arrangement for violin and piano, played by Jascha Heifetz:
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Joshua Bell gives a complete performance of Wieniawski’s Second Violin Concerto:
Allegro moderato (00:25)
Romance: Andante non troppo (12:04)
Allegro con fuoco – Allegro moderato (à la Zingara) (16:50)
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The Art of Listening 