639 Year Concert Expecting Chord Change

[matcom]

<snip>

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 (2pm AEDT Friday) 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.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17744226-13762,00.html

[Coventina]

1. I heard about this work several years ago. It's on my list if I ever go

to Germany.

It just seems really cool to me, a trans-generational music piece!

[UrbScotty]

2. Almost as long as it took FEMA to get to New Orleans (nt)

[MadHound]

3. Somebody, about two hundred years from now,

Is going to walk into Buchardi Church, look at the music, and go :wtf:, and then get rid of the music, and probably sell off the organ. I mean really now, why this is an interesting and novel idea, musically speaking this is not a practical idea. No single person can ever hear the entire piece performed, and I'm sorry, but music is designed to be heard in its entirety.

I think that this is just silly, people being avant garde for avant garde's sake. "Hey, I heard G sharp, E and D chords last trip":eyes:

[swimboy]

4. Help! I'm falling ASLSP!

:boring:

[tjwmason]

6. Bloody philistine.

Only joking - I agree that it's not really an exciting listen - almost as bad as Mahler.

[Beetwasher]

5. The First Year and a Half Was Silence?

Or maybe the keyboardist was just late. That's more likely, he is a musician after all. We'll never know. Geez, 639 years? I hope he gets a bathroom break every once in a while.

[seemunkee]

7. Can I still get tickets?

I want to take the kids, and the future grandkids, and the future great grandkids, and ....

[matcom]

8. i want to go and yell

FREEBIRD!