Krzysztof Baculewski "Subjective Annals 60 Editions of the Festival"

This time Warsaw was visited by one of the gurus of the avant-garde -perhaps by then a little dated, but undoubtedly important since it triggered a change of direction in the evolution of 20th-century music: Karlheinz Stockhausen. Fourteen of his works were performed at three concert spectacles, directed by the composer himself. ere were concerts by The Hilliard Ensemble, two by the Orchestra of the State Opera in Kiev, and, naturally - the Wilanów Quartet, as well as the Kraków Percussion Group, the outstanding English soprano Jane Manning, The Matrix Ensemble and the Kronos Quartet.

An event of a different kind, belonging to a different aesthetics, was the performance of Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem by Arvo Pärt. One should also note the monographic concert of Wojciech Kilar's music, the appearance of Krzysztof Meyer as soloist in his own Piano Quintet, the crazy Harmonielehre by John Adams, the debuts of Bettina Skrzypczak (String Quartet No. 2) and Jerzy Kornowicz (Relacja), the opera The Death of Don Juan by Roman Palester, who had died in Paris two years earlier - another work by a composer almost unknown in Poland; the (surprisingly uncomprehended by the audience) Muzyka na Wielki Tydzień (Music for Holy Week) by Lidia Zielińska, Requiem in Memory of Cathy Berberian by Luciano Berio, a recital by harpsichordist Elżbieta Chojnacka, the poignant Different Trains by Steve Reich, a monumental scene from the opera Silent Screams, Dificult Dreams by Eugeniusz Knapik, and a kind of suite from Le Grand Macabre by György Ligeti.