So our assembly, for the first time in a very long while, is taking place in an atmosphere of true creative freedom. No one here will persecute anyone for so-called formalism, no one will prevent anyone from expressing his aesthetic opinions, regardless of what individual composers represent.

When today, from the perspective of eight and a half years, I look back on the notorious conference in Łagów in 1949, when the frontal attack on Polish musical creativity began, I go cold just remembering that dreadful experience … We all know that it was the work of people to whom the very idea of beauty is totally foreign, people for whom music is of no interest unless there is some tale or legend attached.

The period of which I speak may not have lasted long, because it actually passed a couple of years ago, but it was nevertheless long enough to have visited tremendous damage on our music. The psyche of a creative artist is an extremely delicate and precise instrument. So the attack on that instrument and the attempt to subdue it caused not a few of us moments of severe depression. Being completely cut off from what was happening in the arts in the West likewise played no small role in that dismal experiment to which we were subjected.

Have we shaken ourselves free of this state of dejection? Do we have enough enthusiasm for new creative explorations? Certainly, yes. But even so our situation is far from easy. Before each of us stands the problem of finding our place in the tumult represented by the arts of our time … Not all of us have a clear view on what is happening in this music, where it is going. I believe, however, that it is only a question of time, that not only will we reach a clear view on the situation but also that we will play a positive and not insignificant role in it.