Krzysztof Baculewski "Subjective Annals 60 Editions of the Festival"

This was the first 'Warsaw Autumn' after the change of political system in Poland, but designed and planned still in the 'old' reality. The Festival opened with some rather curious points: Memory by Marek Kopytman and Cosmos I by Stefan Kisielewski juxtaposed with the Sinfonia Mistica by Andrzej Panufnik. The finale concert featured a monumental concert performance of excerpts from Olivier Messiaen's opera Saint-François d'Assise (cond. Antoni Wit). The performance was attended by the composer himself, visiting Poland for the first time; he assisted at the rehearsals in Katowice and then came to Warsaw. The present writer, as a pupil of Messiaen's, was entrusted by the PCU with the job of interpreter and carer to the 81-year-old composer during his stay in Poland. The first year of independent Poland also brought a performance of Katyn Epitaph by Andrzej Panufnik, dedicated to the memory of more than twenty thousand Polish prisoners-of-war murdered by the Soviet authorities in 1940. The programme also included Fresco by Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar, Stabat Mater (and a number of other works) by Arvo Pärt, a monographic concert dedicated to Giacinto Scelsi (who was just being discovered), and another one to the memory of Tomasz Sikorski, who had died a year earlier; Rappel II by Elżbieta Sikora for orchestra and SYTER sound transformation system. Stanisław Moryto made his debut with Per uno solo for percussion. Another premiere was the presentation of studies for player piano by Conlon Nancarrow.

Owing to the organisational and nancial problems experienced by 'Polskie Nagrania' - the record company that had produced the 'Sound Chronicles of Warsaw Autumn' on LPs, the PCU decided to end its collaboration with this state monopoly and began independent production of the 'Sound Chronicles' on cassettes.