Strings Magazine 7/2011
Laurence Vittes

MusicWeb International 9/2010
Laurence Vittes

The Strad 8/2008
Robin Stowell

Twoja Muza 8-9/2007
Krzesimir Dębski

Ruch Muzyczny 11/2007
Józef Kański

HI-FI i Muzyka 1/2008
Hanna Milewska



Paganini: 24 Caprices, Op. 1 (CD review)
It's taken a long time for Paganini's 24 Caprices, Op. 1, to take their place alongside such staples of the solo string player's repertoire as Bach's suites, but now, almost suddenly, that's how they're regarded in some enlightened circles.
Premiered in 1831 when Paganini made his debut in Paris, they constitute 80 minutes of paroxysm and glory that only someone who had a casino in Paris named after him could encompass, embrace, and enlarge. Their continuing relevance was recently affirmed by the Wihan Quartet's recording of William Zinn's arrangement, as well as recent recordings by James Ehnes, Thomas Zehetmair, and Julia Fischer.
The Polish violin virtuoso Janusz Wawrowski brings a unique passion to this music. This season he is touring a multi-media production called Ultimate Paganini with cellist Marcin Zdunik (with whom he has made a DVD of the Caprices) and "audio-visual instrumentalist" Maciej Walczak.
Wawrowski has the true musician's concern for the structural and dramatic truth behind Paganini's torrents of notes and plays his modern Wojciech Topa-made violin with a bulletproof technique that yields countless insights and beauties.
There have been so many recordings of the complete Caprices recently that it has become a sort of a given that there be some kind of conceptual framework.
In this case, it is supplied abundantly by music writer Marcin Majchrowski's absorbing liner notes, which raise many significant questions and suggest many possibilities, both of the intrinsic importance of the music and its impact on its own generation and generations since, not least to Witold Lutoslawski.

Laurence Vittes, Strings Magazine 7/2011
whole review here
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Zakopane In The Heights Chamber Music Festival
(...) Throughout the evening, Wawrowski showed an extraordinary ability to float phrases, produce a tone in his fiddle's low registers that was unusually dark and seductive, almost like a violist's, and display the seamless, note-perfect virtuosity which his recent recording of the 24 Paganini Caprices showed off to such stunning advantage.

Laurence Vittes, MusicWeb International
whole article here
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N. Paganini - 24 Caprices, Op. 1 (CD review)
Any violinist who can commit the challenging bravura of Paganini's caprices to CD with substantial accuracy, clarity and technical aplomb is worthy of praise. But Polish violinist Janusz Wawrowski goes one step further, performing these benchmarks for the aspiring virtuoso with the utmost artistry and musical conviction. A pupil of Miroslaw Lawrynowicz (Warsaw) and, lattery, Yair Kless (Graz), Wawrowski has consitnently ear-tickilng technical facility, clarity and assurance, especially when he demonstrates it with such panache. Sample mastery of the fingered octaves and octave double trills in caprice no.3; the double- and mulitple-stopping in nos.4 and 14; the various elastic bowings in nos. 1, 5, 7 and 10; the undualting bowing in no.12; and the irregular accents in no.16. He is equally at home in phrasing an Italianate lyrical melody with disarming charm (as in the expressive Amoroso of no.21 or the opening Andante of no.11), in teasing out passages of dialogue (nos.2 and 9), and the ninth variation of no.24).
A few minor cavils nothwithstanding - the left-hand tremolandos of no.6 might have been more effectively executed, the climax of no.14 dissapoints, and there are a few uncomfortable moments in the sul G episode of no.19 and in the sixth variation of no.24 - Wawrowski holds one enthralled throughout some 80 minutes of charismatic virtuoso display. His technical command, true intonation and the flattering ambience of the recording ensure that his gleaming tone is clear, pleasingly credible and free from scratchiness, particularly in passages above the stave.

Robin Stowell, The Strad 8/2008
whole review here
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N. Paganini - 24 Caprices, Op. 1 (CD review)
24 Caprices op. 1 by Niccolo Paganini is one of the greatest artistic challenges that only the very best violinists dare to face. The set of astounding virtuosic fireworks combined with melodies of refined beauty captivated the world at the beginning of the 19th century and made Paganini the most famous legendary violin virtuoso. Paganini was also an accomplished guitarist and some of the ideas contained in the Caprices are derived from guitar thinking. Performing all the 24 Caprices is very rare and is often evaluated in almost sporting categories: will the musician manage to clear all obstacles, will he reach the finishing line?
This is surely not the case with the sensational performance of Janusz Wawrowski. This young violinist not only plays with a perfect technique but also thrills the audience with his musical, very modern expression. With a masterly skill and ease Wawrowski avoids the traps hidden in every Caprice; he keeps his listeners fully immersed in music and makes them forget how extremely difficult every phrase is to perform. Musical feast of the highest rank!

Krzesimir Dębski, Twoja Muza 8-9/2007
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N. Paganini - 24 Caprices, Op. 1 (CD review)
Very few violinists take up the challenge of performing the entire sequence of 24 Caprices by Paganini, known for their technical difficulties, and even fewer want to take up the risk of recording them. Even the composer himself did not treat those fascinating pieces as a coherent whole; yet, as somebody rightly remarked, they have become "every violinist’s Bible". Still, the complete recordings are quite rare. The Polish recording has been released only this year and its daring "author" is a young violinist of outstanding talent, the 25-year-old Janusz Wawrowski, one of the best students of the late Professor Mirosław Ławrynowicz under whose guidance he graduated with distinction from the Warsaw Academy of Music in 2004.
The recorded performance of the Paganini's Caprices, abounding in the most difficult technical challenges of the violinist technique, in a manner that is always artistic and sometimes truly revolutionary, does credit to the young Polish violinist. This is confirmed by the opinions of outstanding authorities in violin playing, the famous Ida Haendel among them.
Wawrowski's captivating interpretation is especially impressive in the First Caprice in E major, where we are astounded by dizzying staccato passages. Also excellent are the tremolo Sixth, the Nineteenth astonishing with bravado progressions of double notes and the Twenty-Fourth with variations on the theme that was later to become famous and used by many subsequent composers.
Wawrowski happily combines perfect technique and virtuosic imaginativeness with musicality and the noble manner in which the melody is led in the lyrical parts of the Caprices, enchanting the audience in the Caprices No. 4, 11 and 21. Some of these miniatures are treated slightly impersonally by the young violinist, but this is perhaps unavoidable in such a sequence. Nonetheless, we listen to this recording with admiration and pleasure.

Józef Kański, Ruch Muzyczny 25 XI 2007
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N. Paganini - 24 Caprices, Op. 1 (CD review)
This record is worth listening to not only for the virtuosic skills of the performer but also (even if you do not particularly like Paganini or are fed up with the Caprice no. 24) for its sonoric qualities. The record regretfully fails to identify the violin that Janusz Wawrowski plays, but even if his instrument is not the top price class one, its acoustic properties combined with excellently chosen strings and recording parameters produce a delightful effect - lively sound, delicate echo. Quite sharp, "raw" sound would not perhaps be suitable for playing a concerto by Sibelius, but it is perfect for playing Paganini's Caprices, enabling a precise demonstration of all the technical toughies with which the composer filled his most famous pieces.
Wawrowski, while recognising (rightly) the need to stand up to these challenges, nonetheless focused on showing the beauty of the music. He treats the Caprices not as several minutes' soulless motoric sequences but as lovely melodies, sometimes even lyrical arias. The gift of interpretational "bilocation" allows the artist to clearly separate the melody from the accompaniment background (for instance in Caprices no. 1 and 12). He subtly adopts the echo dynamics. The trills sometimes sound as a trembling glass pane and make us feel an intriguing shiver in the ears (Caprice no. 3). Sensitive to articulation nuances and tones, Wawrowski is able to transform Caprice no. 6 into a Russian romance played on the balalaika.
The record is the first ever recording of complete Caprices op. 1 by Paganini in the history of the Polish phonography, and Janusz Wawrowski is the only Polish violinist who performs the entire set in a single concert struggling, as he says, "with myself, my will, mind and the instrument".

Hanna Milewska, HI-FI i muzyka 1/2008
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