Krzysztof Baculewski "Subjective Annals 60 Editions of the Festival"

From today's perspective, perhaps the most important event seems to have been the visit of Merce Cunningham and Dance Company from New York, and their accompanying pianists David Tudor and John Cage. The programme also featured the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, naturally with the Pittsburgh Symphony by Paul Hindemith, but also with ballet music by Aaron Copland, once a student of Nadia Boulanger. In order to maintain the necessary geographic-political balance, there was also a visit by Rudolf Barshai with his Chamber Orchestra of Moscow Philharmonic (presenting, among other things, a phenomenal orchestral version of Prokofiev's Visions fugitives), and for aesthetic balance-the avant-garde Ensemble Instrumental de Musique Contemporaine from Paris, directed by Constantin Simonovic, and Musica Viva Pragensis. Zbigniew Rudziński, Zbigniew Bujarski and Romuald Twardowski made their debuts. The programme includes Symphony Op. 21 by Anton Webern, Kreuzspiel by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Metastasis by Iannis Xenakis. The music of Morton Feldman, Charles Ives and Edison Denisov was heard for the first time at the 'Warsaw Autumn'. Krzysztof Penderecki presented his Stabat Mater, Włodzimierz Kotoński - Musica per fiati e timpani, Tadeusz Baird - Dialogues for oboe and orchestra, and Kazimierz Serocki - Symphonic Frescoes.