The invitation was made on behalf of Brian Ferneyhough, who had the chance to hear some of the pieces beforehand. In a letter to the organizers he wrote: "In my opinion these pieces... are partly of very great interest". And later: "... I consider him to be a major composer in this area". The first public performance of some of the pieces from Civilización o Barbarie took then place at a Studio-Concert in the “Darmstädter Ferienkurse” on the 28 July 1984. (see 3.1.1) For this cycle, Kuczer was awarded the "Kranichsteiner Musikpreis" ("Kranichstein Music Prize"), the first time the award was granted to a Latin American. In 1986, for the next edition of the Darmstadt Courses, Kuczer was invited to perform a second concert with works of the cycle. "Civilización o Barbarie" was later selected as "personal choice of the jury" by Klaus Huber, one of the three jurors, for the ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music) World Music Days, which took place in Cologne in 1987. Although between 1984 and 1999 several of the works belonging to the "Civilización o Barbarie" cycle have been performed a number of times either in "Group-form" and/or also individually as part of mixed concerts in different cities of Europe, a substantial part of the pieces have remained unplayed. The performances of the pieces of "Civilización o Barbarie", although generally considered as a "secret tip", have often been surrounded by great controversy and even true scandals: listeners (even full orchestras) running out of the concert hall, parts of the public being horrified, the pieces being smeared by the most conservative part of the audiences and their music critics. Some reports contain mixed feelings showing that the musicians and critics were somehow under shock, moved, puzzled, perhaps confused, revolted, captivated and outraged at the same time, having to admit, though, that something in a way "unforgettable" had taken place. The premiere of "Civilización o Barbarie" in Darmstadt in 1984 was described by Hans-Joachim Hespos as follows: ... whoever once in his life has stood, with fluttering pant legs, in the middle of loud blasting sound-waves before loudspeekers, knows what loudness can bring about. I heard this once in my life, in a performance of a piece by the Argentinian composer Bernardo Kuczer.