1988 compositions

Different Trains is a three-movement piece for string quartet and tape written by Steve Reich in 1988.

The Symphony No. 3 is a symphony in five movements composed between 1988 and 1995 by Krzysztof Penderecki. It was commissioned and completed for the centenary of the Munich Philharmonic. Its earliest version, Passacaglia and Rondo (which later served as the basis for the second and fourth movements of the complete symphony), premiered at the International Music Festival Week in Lucerne, Switzerland, on August 20, 1988. It was performed by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and conducted by Penderecki. The full symphony premiered in Munich on 8 December 1995, performed by the Munich Philharmonic, again conducted by the composer.

Thirteen Anniversaries is a composition for solo piano by Leonard Bernstein, published in 1988, commemorating 13 people who played an important role in his life.

Juan Darién: A Carnival Mass is a musical with music and lyrics by Elliot Goldenthal and a book by Goldenthal and Julie Taymor. The musical premiered Off-Broadway in 1988 in the former St. Clement's Church. It was subsequently reworked and refined before playing on Broadway in 1996 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, directed by Taymor. The musical, based on a modern fable of the same name by Horacio Quiroga, is set in the jungle in South America, with a jaunty skeletal Death ever present. Its story concerns an orphaned jaguar cub who is miraculously transformed into a human child by the compassion of a woman who has lost her own baby; the boy must then confront the savagery of human civilization. The production employs masked actors and puppets, and the score includes elements of Latin American folk music and the Requiem Mass. The piece was revived and toured extensively.

Symphony No. 1 The Lord of the Rings is the first symphony for concert band written by Johan de Meij, and one of several works of classical music based on J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy The Lord of the Rings. It premiered in 1988 with the Groot Harmonieorkest van de Belgische Gidsen conducted by Norbert Nozy.

"My Twelve Tone Melody" is a 1988 composition by Leonard Bernstein written in tribute to Irving Berlin in celebration of Berlin's 100th birthday. It was performed by Bernstein at the concert to celebrate Berlin's birthday at Carnegie Hall in May 1988.

The Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra is a composition for trumpet solo and orchestra by the British composer Peter Maxwell Davies. The work was commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra for its then principal trumpeter John Wallace. It was given its world premiere by Wallace and the Philharmonia Orchestra under the conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli in Hiroshima on 21 September 1988.

The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by György Ligeti is a five-movement piano concerto. Ligeti wrote:

"Kabar Ma Kyay Buu" (Burmese: ကမ္ဘာမကြေဘူး) is a Burmese song written by composer Naing Myanmar (also known as Naing Myint Oo). The song is a copy thachin (adapted song) that takes its melody from the 1977 song "Dust in the Wind" by the American rock band Kansas. First gaining prominence during the 8888 Uprising, "Kabar Ma Kyay Buu" has become one of the most significant songs in Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. It was revived during the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état as a symbol of resistance against the military regime.

Symbolon is a composition for orchestra written by the American composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The piece was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for their 1988 tour of the Soviet Union and was completed on January 8, 1988. It is dedicated to Zubin Mehta, who conducted the work's premiere by the New York Philharmonic in Leningrad on June 1, 1988. It was the first piece of American orchestral music to be premiered in the Soviet Union.