In writing [my] Sixth String Quartet, I want to sustain certain sections with serial technique, but at the same time I want to give it a different character than usual. Present-day pointillism does not interest me very much – it is perhaps a rather narrow path, a trend without a great future. On the other hand I am struck by electronic music: it invents new sound colours and new rhythms … I am less curious about experiments that combine creativity and its execution, such as aleatoricism, etc.

My Sixth Quartet was played at the Festival; it irritated some of the oldies (e.g., Sikorski) but surprised the youngsters. These latter thought that I am already incapable of moving forward, so they have begun to acknowledge me anew … The young are perhaps too surprised (that's their right !), but the middle [generation] endeavours to make music from this ‘strangeness’, not just experiments. In any case, there's no progress without freedom of experimentation.