Penderecki: Orchestral Works Volume 2: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5 Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Antoni Wit (Naxos 8.5544567).(Review)

Penderecki: Orchestral Works Volume 2: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5 Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Antoni Wit (Naxos 8.5544567)

Sorry, but I must start what will turn out to be quite a favorable review with what I fear many readers will take to be a petulant little quibble: it drives me crazy ("Aha! I knew he was nuts all along!," the wire worshippers are probably saying to themselves ...) when producers place works on a disc in reverse chronological order. Maybe it's no big deal, but it certainly seems as if it would have been an even smaller deal to open this disc with the First (1973) rather than the Fifth (1992). Perhaps they were afraid that if auditioners chanced upon this disc in some store that somehow had Naxos discs available for audition before purchase (not a really likely scenario, unfortunately), the opening percussion sounds of the First may have been just plain too much for the average listener, and a sale may have gone down the tubes based on a bad first impression.

The Fifth ...