Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki has been an iconoclast and musical revivalist during his long career. This CD captures him in both roles.

It opens with the Symphony No. 5 (RealAudio excerpt) from 1992, with its lush, Mahlerian expanses that recall Penderecki's move to neo-romanticism in the '80s. That continuous piece gives way to the Symphony No. 1 from 1973, which came at the apex of the composer's initial, stridently modern phase.

Antoni Wit and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra render both with precision and care, if not, perhaps, with the intensity and drama that are at the core of all the composer's works.

What speaks louder than the interpretations offered on this CD are Penderecki's constantly astonishing use of string sonorities and his ability to infuse dense, abstract music with a passion that has few equals among contemporary composers.