The Piano Sonata in G minor, op. 5, Wladyslaw Zelenski’s first important composition, was written in Kraków under the guidance of Franciszek Mirecki – a conservative composer and teacher who was a pupil of Johann Nepomuk Hummel. It was probably Mirecki who brought about the publication of his 22-year-old pupil’s work by the esteemed Milan firm of Ricordi in 1859.

That publication generated interest among Polish music critics, who discerned the young composer’s talent, the work’s ambitious con...