Janusz Wawrowski

Phoenix Janusz Wawrowski

Janusz Wawrowski's album Phoenix pairs two violin concertos - one a repertoire favourite, the other a fascinating rediscovery. The life-affirming spirit of each defies the circumstances of its genesis: Tchaikovsky's concerto dates from the aftermath of his disastrous marriage, while Polish composer Ludomir Rózycki wrote his concerto during the traumatic Warsaw Uprising, when his countrymen attempted to defy their Nazi occupiers.

"Rózycki's wonderful concerto spoke to me immediately," says Janusz Wawrowski. "It reminds me of Gershwin or Korngold, yet retaining at the same time a distinct Slavic flavour." Wawrowski, praised by Gramophone magazine for his "dark, luscious sweetness of sound", spent 10 years reconstructing the work from long-lost fragments. He performs here with London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and its Polish-born Permanent Associate Conductor, Grzegorz Nowak.

In 1944, before escaping Warsaw with his family, Rózycki buried the manuscript of his concerto in his garden. His house was eventually destroyed and Rózycki, living in the city of Katowice, resigned himself to the loss of the score. He died in 1953 at the age of 69. As it turned out, the buried concerto was discovered by construction workers and found its way to Poland's National Library.

"Rózycki's concerto is full of the energy and life of Warsaw before the war," says Janusz Wawrowski. "It is incredible that it was written in the darkest times and carries such positive energy. Rózycki's spirit of hope for a better future was well and truly still alive."