When the United States composer John Cage wrote Organ2/ASLSP and stipulated that it should be played ”as slow as possible”, he had in mind a performance of a few hours. An earlier version for piano, composed in 1985, takes around 20 minutes. But Cage, who died seven years later, was reckoning without German thoroughness. In the eastern town of Halberstadt on February 5 the three first notes were played of a performance that is intended to last 639 years. These notes will be joined by two more in July 2005.Things actually began on September 5 2001. But since Cage’s work begins with a pause, 18 months have since gone past in silence.
The only invited guests at the deconsecrated church where the piece is being played on a specially-built organ were 70 school students.”They should carry the project forward,” says the organiser of the project, Dr Michael Betzle. ”The students, who are 17 or 18 now, will be able to accompany the project through the next 50, 60, 70 years.” The duration of the performance was decided by Halberstadt’s long and distinguished association with the organ. It was in this town between Brunswick and Magdeburg that one of the medieval world’s greatest organs was built in 1361 — 639 years before the current project was conceived as part of the millennium celebrations.
Professor Christoph Bossert of the Musikhochschule at Trossingen in south-west Germany admits that Cage did not envisage anything quite so long. But, he adds, ”We can assume he was not against the idea.” He says that the piano version was rejected because the chords die away quickly. ”With an organ you can play for as long as the electrical current — or the musician — holds out.”So as not to test the organist too far, notes will be held by holding down keys with weights for the months, years or in some cases decades for which they are required to be played.Does this not pose a bit of a problem for the inhabitants of Halberstadt?” The neighbours have already raised their concerns in this respect,” says Bossert cautiously. ”But I don’t think that it will cause a problem because the sound you get from the organ we have built is not like that from a normal organ. It is not an irritating sound, though it is permanently there.” — Â