Second Concerto Pour Violon Avec Accompagnement de Piano, Op. 22

The Second Concerto in D minor, Op. 22 is one of Henryk Wieniawski's best known and most often played works. It enjoys unwaning popularity with both audiences and performers and has been recorded many times by the most outstanding violinists of the twentieth century, including Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Mischa Elman, Igor Oistrakh, Wanda Wilkomirska, Ida Haendel, Itzhak Perlman, Bronislaw Gimpel, Henryk Szeryng and Bronislaw Huberman. In this work, we see a perfect sense of proportion between dazzling virtuosity and subtle cantilena, between outpourings of emotion and moments of calm and reflection. The work's tonal and expressive qualities, well-designed musical form, skilful distribution of points of culmination and precisely led dialogue between solo and tutti mean that the Second Concerto holds the listener's attention from the very first bars and maintains the suspense right to the very end. This work also gives the violinist a great deal of satisfaction, as it calls for the display of a whole arsenal of performance and interpretative capabilities, as well as the ability to work well with the orchestra. - Introduction to the work.