Brzezinski

Brzezinski's best work is undoubtedly his violin sonata - a work of searing expressiveness and emotional turbulence, especially in the central adagio which, towards the end, seems to paraphrase the lovely cantilena of Max Bruch's Adagio Appassionato op.57. The sonata by Brzezinski's contemporary and friend Józef Szulc (the Polish spelling of the German name 'Schultz') is his only known work in this or any genre. According to the booklet notes, it "lies on the border of light music and classical" (sic), but a rather sniffy view like this does not stand up well to scrutiny, even if the second half of the work does not quite replicate the poetic heights of the first.