Anna Górecka (piano), Carol Wincenc (flute), Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra/ Antoni WitNaxos 8.572872 ***

If all you know of the Polish composer Henryk Górecki is his hugely successful 1976 Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, you're in for quite a shock when you hear his 1993 Kleines Requiem für eine Polka for piano and 13 instruments. Neither the Pärt-like calm of the openingnor the chomping violence that follows will quite prepare you for arrival of the madcap polka itself. The 1992 Concerto-Cantata for flute and orchestra explores similar polarities and also includes a stretch of fairground- like music. Pulsating energy dominates the nearly hyperactive 1980 Harpsichord Concerto (heard in the piano version with the composer's daughter, Anna) and the insistent Three Dances of 1973, where the central movement offers relief from the bludgeoning outer ones. url.ie/af6o