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" ENCORE! ENCORE! " > > > Second chord sounds in world's longest lasting concert > http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060105/lf_afp/afpentertainmentgermany > > > > > Thu Jan 5, 11:12 AM ET > > > 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".