A looooooong piece of music

[Mycernius]

First notes for 639-year composition
The piece by John Cage is called As Slow As Possible
The first notes in the longest and slowest piece of music in history, designed to go on for 639 years, are being played on a German church organ on Wednesday.
The three notes, which will last for a year-and-a-half, are just the start of the piece, called As Slow As Possible.
Composed by late avant-garde composer John Cage, who died in 1992, the performance has already been going for 17 months - although all that has been heard so far is the sound of the organ's bellows being inflated.
We started discussing - what is as slow as possible for the organ?
Hans-Ola Ericsson
Composer
The music will be played in Halberstadt, a small town renowned for its ancient organs in central Germany.
It was originally a 20-minute piece for piano, but a group of musicians and philosophers decided to take the title literally and work out how long the longest possible piece of music could last.
They settled on 639 years because the Halberstadt organ was 639 years old in the year 2000.
"We started discussing - what is as slow as possible for the organ?" Swedish composer and organist Hans-Ola Ericsson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"We, a group of theologians, musicologists, philosophers, composers and organists, met during a couple of years solely to discuss this question. It was rather wonderful to have one topic to discuss at length."
Hopefully the aesthetics and the ideas of John Cage will manage to survive
Hans-Ola Ericsson
"We came up with the answer that the piece could last for the duration of the organ - that is the lifetime of an organ."
Mr Ericsson said John Cage would have liked what they had done with it.
"It's a sound that we give to the future to take care of, and hopefully the aesthetics and the ideas of John Cage will manage to survive."
The first note is due to be struck at 1800 local time (1700 GMT) on Wednesday.
The performance follows a legal case in which composer Mike Batt was forced to pay a six-figure sum to Cage's publishers, who accused him of plagiarising a silent piece of music.

Just a silly little story I heard today on the radio. Tracked down this piece of news from the BBC, originally from Feb 5th 2003, where it mentions that the first note started, after a period of 17 months of silence. On classic FM they mentioned that the second chord is now being played, for the next 12 years. They use sandbags on the keys.

 

[]-wandering-raven-[]

"sounds like something From TMT [Too Much Time] productions >_>"

..makes me wonder if it'll sound any good

 

[MeAndroo]

While it's amusing in it's novelty, just think of how the world may change around that organ over 639 years. What if a war takes it out 638 years and 360 days from now?

Can I sign up to move the sandbags in say, 35 years? If that fits the proper pace and time signature of course.

 

[Twisted]

John Cage also made a wonderful piece called 4:33 which was basicly 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence.

Here's how one performance went: A tuxedoed performer came on stage, sat at a grand piano, opened the lid, occasionally turned some music pages but otherwise sat as quietly as possible for 4 minutes and 33 seconds, then rose, bowed and left. And that was it.

John Cage and the Avant-Garde: The Sounds of Silence

 

[Kinsao]

They settled on 639 years because the Halberstadt organ was 639 years old in the year 2000.

And I thought it was because of some particular significance attached to the traditionally 'magical' number nine and its derivative/originative threenessess, 3 and 6...

Who is going to play the damn thing? Is it the kind of task one inherits from one's father, I ask myself...

 

[Flashjeff]

Wow! A piece of music that's longer than "Stairway To Heaven"? Amazing! You learn something new on this board every day!

 

[Sensuikan San]

Hmmm.....
This reminds me of a "happening" that John Lennon and Yoko Ono once cooked up in the late sixties/early seventies.
It consisted of a 'movie' of Lennon's penis, in close-up .... doing what it might have wanted or not wanted to do (I presume he was reading a book or something, I dunno.)!
I believe it was several (3? 4? 12?) hours in length (the film, that is!).
I do not recall an 'Oscar' being awarded.
ﾆ淡ﾆ停?｡ﾆ停?

 

[Flashjeff]

Hmmm.....
This reminds me of a "happening" that John Lennon and Yoko Ono once cooked up in the late sixties/early seventies.
It consisted of a 'movie' of Lennon's penis, in close-up .... doing what it might have wanted or not wanted to do (I presume he was reading a book or something, I dunno.)!
I believe it was several (3? 4? 12?) hours in length (the film, that is!).
I do not recall an 'Oscar' being awarded.
ﾆ淡ﾆ停?｡ﾆ停?彈/QUOTE]

Never heard of that before. I'm guessing John and Yoko weren't sober when they dreamed up that idea. As for the lack of an Oscar nomination, the award must've been lost in the mail!