A Long Organ Concert

Could you imagine a single piece of music extending longer than any person's life? John Cage (1912-1992) did. He titled it "organ2/ASLSP" (or "As SLow aS Possible").

Starting September 5, 2001, this organ concert is not expected to finish until 2639. It takes place in the abandoned Buchardi church in Halberstadt, eastern Germany. The piece was written to commemorate the creation of Halberstadt's historic Blockwerk organ in 1361--639 years before the project began.

Every note change and rest is orchestrated in the score, even such that the first year and a half was absolute silence. Over a year later, two notes were added to this first chord. Sometime soon, the second chord is supposed to be played. The keys are held down by weights on this organ built especially for this performance.

John Cage is a U.S. experimental composer. He orginally wrote ASLSP as a 20-minutes piece for piano. He has also written "4'33", a piece consisting of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of total silence, meticulously notated.