This composition was dedicated to Ake Holmquist and premiered in Lübeck on August 13, 1993.
[2] For this performance, Israeli clarinetist Sharon Kam, German violinist Christoph Poppen, American violist Kim Kashkashian, and collaborator and Russian cellist Boris Piergamienszczikow played the work under the baton of Penderecki himself.
[1] These musicians also performed the piece to be broadcast in television, also with Penderecki as conductor.
The first performance of this arrangement took place in the Dresden Days of Contemporary Music in 1999 by Raschèr Saxophone Quartet.
The movement list is as follows:[5] This composition received universal acclaim, both in the first performance and in recordings.