Re: 639 Year Long Concert - Cage Composition - "ASLSP"

[Jon Southwood <jsouthwood@gmail.com>]

Kris,

Don't hate the game, hate the playa(s)...Cage had nothing to do with the 639 year version. It was a 20 minute piano piece that became a 20 minute organ piece  that someone decided to blow out of proportion.

Cheers,

Jon Southwood

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.