As Slow As Possible
Encyclopedia
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
and is the subject of one of the longest-lasting musical performances yet undertaken. It was originally written in 1987 for organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
and is adapted from the earlier work ASLSP 1985; a typical performance of the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
piece lasts for about 20 to 70 minutes. In 1985, Cage opted to omit the detail of "exactly how slow the piece should be played".
The current organ performance of the piece at St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt
Halberstadt
Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, began in 2001 and is scheduled to have a duration of 639 years, ending in 2640.
Background
A 1997 conference of musicians and philosophers discussed the implications of Cage's instruction to play the piece "as slow as possible", given that an organ imposes virtually no time limits. A project emerged to perform the piece so that it would take a total of 639 years to play. A pipe organ that has been properly maintained has no finite life-span. The length was decided due to the first documented permanent organ installation, in the cathedral of Halberstadt in 1361, 639 years before the proposed start date in the year 2000. Therefore the piece was to be performed in the St. Burchardi church in HalberstadtHalberstadt
Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, beginning in the year 2000 and lasting 639 years.
The instrument
An organ built specifically for this performance was completed in 2009. It stands in the right transept of the Burchardi-church, while the bellows are in the left. Between January and May 2005, it contained only six pipes. Because the instrument sounds constantly, there is a cube of acrylic glass around it to reduce the sound emissions.The piece
The scoreSheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
consists of eight pages, the tempo of which has been stretched to fit the wanted duration of 639 years.
The piece was commissioned by The Friends of the Maryland Summer Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts as a contemporary requirement for a piano competition. Cage employed an open format mainly to ensure that no two performances would be the same, providing the judges a break from the monotony of most compositions.
Performance
The actual performance commenced in the St. Burchardi church on September 5, 2001 with a pause lasting until February 5, 2003. The first chord was played from then until July 5, 2005. The most recent new chord from the organ was a three-note chord, A above middle CMiddle C
C or Do is the first note of the fixed-Do solfège scale. Its enharmonic is B.-Middle C:Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation because of the note's position as the fourth C key on a standard 88-key piano keyboard...
, C above middle C and the F# above that (A4-C5-F#5), which began on January 5, 2006 and concluded on July 5, 2008. This sonority can currently be heard on a website devoted to the Halberstadt event.
The latest musical event from the organ is a new chord (C4-A flat4). On July 5, 2008, the weights holding down the organ pedals were shifted resulting in the 6th chord change. Two more organ pipes were added alongside the four installed and the tone became more complex at 15:33 local time. A machine, called a blower, provides a constant supply of air which keeps the pipes playing.
The performance is planned to continue until September 5, 2640.
Sound changes
The piece started with a rest of seventeen months, beginning September 5, 2001, which was the 89th anniversary of Cage's birth. The first sound appeared on February 5, 2003. Further dates for changing notes are:- July 5, 2004
- July 5, 2005
- January 5, 2006
- May 5, 2006
- July 5, 2008
- November 5, 2008
- February 5, 2009
- July 5, 2010
- February 5, 2011
- August 5, 2011
- July 5, 2012
- October 5, 2013
- September 5, 2020
On these dates St. Burchardi usually is well visited. The sound change of January 5, 2006, is available as an audio file.
Diane Luchese at Towson University
On February 5, 2009, Diane Luchese performed "Organ²/ASLSP" from 8:45 AM to 11:41 PM in the Harold J. Kaplan Concert Hall, Towson UniversityTowson University
Towson University, often referred to as TU or simply Towson for short, is a public university located in Towson in Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S...
. This 14 hours and 56 minutes uninterrupted and complete performance, with strict adherence to the score's temporal proportions, is the longest documented performance of the piece by a single human so far, although a full 24-hour version of the original piece, ASLSP, was performed by Joe Drew during the ARTSaha!
ARTSaha!
ARTSaha! is Omaha's new music festival. Held in the late summer, it is an annual showcase of contemporary music and art that stresses interdisciplinary and collaborative projects. ARTSaha! is produced by ANALOG arts ensemble, a non-profit global collective of artists.-History:ARTSaha! was...
festival in 2008. Drew has also given 9 and 12-hour performances of the piece, and is currently planning a 48-hour performance.
External links
- Website of the Halberstadt event
- As Slow As Possible, Performance Today feature (National Public Radio), September 2003
- Recordings of a nine-hour performance of ASLSP at ARTSaha! 2006 by Joseph Drew: Hour One, Hour Six, Hour Nine Die eingefrorene Zeit, Die ZeitDie ZeitDie Zeit is a German nationwide weekly newspaper that is highly respected for its quality journalism.With a circulation of 488,036 and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper...
, January 8, 2006 - Website of the documentary film 'ASAP' by Scott Smith
- World's longest concert will las 639 years The Washington Post. November 21, 2011.