[silence] Second chord sounds in world's longest lasting concert

[Rod Stasick]

http://tinyurl.com/dqe77

Second chord sounds in world's longest lasting concert

HALBERSTADT, Germany (AFP) - A new chord ( 
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  ) 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".