Józef Wieniawski (May 23, 1837 - Nov. 11, 1912) was a Polish pianist, composer, teacher, and conductor, and younger brother of Henryk Wieniawski, a famous violinist and composer.

Józef studied at the Paris Conservatory with Pierre Zimmerman and Antoine Francois Marmontel when he was only 10, and left three years later. In 1855 he received a scholarship to study with Franz Liszt in Weimar, and he then studied music theory with Adolf Bernhard Marx in Berlin. As a pianist, Wieniawski was widely admired. He was the first pianist to play all of Chopin's etudes in public, and appeared in recitals with Liszt, who respected him highly.

As a composer, Wieniawski was no slouch; he wrote many works for his own instrument, but also wrote sonatas for violin and cello, and even composed a symphony.

Sur l'Océan is one of his many compositions for piano. The left hand/bottom part in this work takes very few breaks from playing shapely arpeggios, as if it were mimicking the rolling waters. Constantly in motion, this work hits an exciting peak about a third of the way through, before entering a calmer section that isn't so inundated with continual arpeggios, before returning to material from the beginning section.

Unfortunately we can't find a recording of this work to purchase, but we hope that changes soon!