HALBERSTADT, Germany (AFP) - A new chord was
scheduled to sound in the world's slowest and longest lasting concert that is
taking a total 639 years to perform.
The abandoned Buchardi church in Halberstadt, eastern
Germany, is the venue for a mind-boggling 639-year-long performance of a piece
of music by US experimental composer John Cage (1912-1992).
Entitled "organ2/ASLSP" (or "As SLow aS Possible"),
the performance began on September 5, 2001 and is scheduled to last until
2639.
The first year and half of the performance was
total silence, with the first chord -- G-sharp, B and G-sharp -- not sounding
until February 2, 2003.
Then in July 2004, two additional Es, an octave
apart, were sounded and are scheduled to be released later this year on May
5.
But at 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Thursday, the first
chord was due to progress to a second -- comprising A, C and F-sharp -- and is
to be held down over the next few years by weights on an organ being built
especially for the project.
Cage originally conceived "ASLSP" in 1985 as a
20-minute work for piano, subsequently transcribing it for organ in
1987.
But organisers of the John Cage Organ Project
decided to take the composer at his word and stretch out the performance for
639 years, using Cage's transcription for organ.
The enormous running time was chosen to commemorate
the creation of Halberstadt's historic Blockwerk organ in 1361 -- 639 years
before the current project started.
That original organ, built by Nikolaus Faber for
Halberstadt's cathedral, was the first organ ever to be used for liturgical
purposes, ringing in a new era in which the organ has played a central role in
church music ever since.
As part of Halberstadt's John Cage Organ Project, a
brand-new organ is being built specially, with new pipes added in time for
when new notes are scheduled to sound.
Cage was a pupil of one of the 20th century's most
influential composers, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951).
Cage's avant-garde oeuvre includes works such as
the notorious "4'33", a piece comprising four minutes and 33 seconds of total
silence, all meticulously notated.
The organisers of the John Cage Organ Project say
the record-breaking performance in Halberstadt also has a philosophical
background -- to "rediscover calm and slowness in today's fast-changing
world".
