[Dixielandjazz] Second Chord Sounded in John Cage's 639 year concert.

[Steve barbone]

Listmates:

And we thought 4':33" was strange. None of us will be alive when this
concert ends. :-) VBG

Note that the chords keep sounding and weights are used to hold them.
Good thing there is no drummer or the time would slow down for sure.

Cheers,
Steve

Second chord sounds in world's longest lasting concert

Thu Jan 5, 11:12 AM ET

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".