Poland's Krzysztof Penderecki is one of the rare composers who began as a radical avant-gardist but has managed to become one of the most accessible composers around. Penderecki began by transforming the string orchestra into a shrieking, plucking, and banging machine in his 1959 Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. Through the years, Penderecki has not only dropped such ear-splitting music, but has gone on to become one of the greatest contemporary composers of religious works, of which his Symphony No. 7, Seven Gates of Jerusalem, is but the latest example. (Typical for the restless Penderecki, he hasn't written Symphony No. 6!) This absolutely stunning release is a must for all Penderecki aficionados. Not only does it showcase a first-rate rendition of the bombastic but genuinely affecting Seven Gates of Jerusalem in Cannes, France, in 2000 (conducted by the composer himself), but it is also crammed with enticing bonus features. There's a short interview with Penderecki, discussing the genesis of the Seven Gates in both English and German; comments by the work's narrator, Boris Carmelli; an onscreen score and Penderecki's subtitled commentary, both synchronous with the music; and Andreas Missler-Morell's illuminating hourlong profile of the composer. --Kevin Filipski
