Krzysztof Baculewski "Subjective Annals 60 Editions of the Festival"

Another change to the duration of 'Warsaw Autumn': this time the Festival was shortened by cutting out the final Sunday, and thus it lasted from Friday until Saturday in the second half of September. The programme marked the 60th birthdays of Krzysztof Penderecki and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, and the 80th birthday of Witold Lutosławski, who conducted the final concert with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra; this was Lutosławski's last public appearance in Poland. The concert would be released a year later on CD. Among outstanding performers one should mention violinist Christiane Edinger, flutist Irena Grafenauer, cellist Boris Pergamenschikov, the Scandinavian Kontra Kvartetten, the Wilanów and Silesian Quartets, Ensemble Contrechamps from Geneva, Agon Ensemble from Prague, Nieuw Ensemble from Amsterdam, and, last but not least, Paweł Mykietyn's debut as composer. An event of interest was the concert by the State Symphony Orchestra of Lithuania, which featured two works - Poème électrique Op.16 of 1932 and Symphonie No. 6 Op. 66 'Cosmique' of 1960 - by the almost totally unknown in Poland Vytautas Bacevičius, brother of Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz. This was one of the last instances of 'Warsaw Autumn' catching up with the historical backlog, which is how its story began in the first place. ere was also a monographic concert devoted to Per Nørgård; Jan Krenz presented his Symfonia quasi una fantasia No. 2, Daryl Rosenberg revisited John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes; Camerata Silesia conducted by Anna Szostak and pianist Aleksandra Krzanowska made their debuts. Antoni Wit conducted the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Polish première of Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà by Olivier Messiaen, who had died a year earlier: a recording of this concert was later issued on CD by the French company JADE.