Perhaps the best testament to Szymanowski’s musical judgement is that his Symphony No 3, containing an extended text by 13th-century Persian mystic Rumi (in Polish translation), draws less on Orientalist influences than on the sonorities of Scriabin. Expanding the orchestral palette and harmonic language of Ravel to the far edges of tonality, Szymanowski spins a musical style that smoothly acculturates the text’s spiritual roots with a mystical aura that resonates much closer to home.

That, plus additional expansions in personnel with a tenor soloist and chorus, makes the enigmatic Third Symphony stand in great contrast to the Fourth, which is about as close to a piano concerto as you can have without actually breaking the solo instrument free from the orchestral fabric. Where the Third spins an opulent sound world in which exotic tonality runs free, the Fourth is a more literal-minded modernist outing betraying a few Bartókian touches.

Antoni Wit and the Warsaw Philharmonic, perennial figures on the Naxos catalogue, are perfectly matched to this repertory, finding a balance between the vertical spaciousness of the harmonies and the horizontal momentum that drives these pieces forward. Tenor Rafal Bartminski (in the Third Symphony) and pianist Jan Kryzsztof Broja (in the Fourth), despite their varying musical demands, each convey a comparable sense of non-virtuosity, where technique is firmly grounded in the music and never for its own sake. The visuals, recorded by Polish TV from a 2009 concert in Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, have the usual mix of close-ups and long shots which, particularly in the case of the Third Symphony, help to steer viewers’ attention to individual musicians, or the full chorus, whoever holds more musical interest at any given time.

This DVD, apparently a first for both Wit and Szymanowski, is an early release from International Classical Artists, the artist management firm now championing audio-video products for their clients that the major labels aren’t in a position to undertake. May they give us many more discs like this one.