Penderecki's Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima

Penderecki's Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima is very modern. So modern, most of the year 9s during the music exam, covered their ears during that excerpt, with the exception of me, because I like it.
Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima is an amazing piece just in terms of extending the technique of string players.
It is scored for 52 string players, but it doesn't sound like strings for most of it. The extended techniques give the string orchestra, a normally fairly homogenous ensemble, an amazing new depth. You swear you can hear drums amongst the screeching!
Interestingly enough, it was not composed with Hiroshima in mind, the dedication was placed after it was performed under the name 8'37", with 4'33" in mind. The piece was so powerful he decided to dedicate it to the victims of Hiroshima.
It makes for exhilirating and overwhelming listening, but well it's almost impossible to put into words!