I love this recent story in the NYT: “John Cage’s Long Music Composition in Germany Changes a Note“, which explains the unfolding of a work by John Cage that challenges a dominant notion we have in art– that the maestro is paramount.
We idolize the sole person corralling an orchestra, waving them into submission, standing erect on the dais. We love 90-minute works with a slow start, a rise, then a crisp ending.
Cage ands those who are executing his composition see the lack of control and shine light there.
It was another milestone — well, inchstone — in the performance of “Organ2/ASLSP,” a version of the John Cage composition titled “As Slow as Possible.” And slow means slow. The piece, which began on Sept. 5, 2001, is not scheduled to end until 2640. But there will probably be a break after the first movement, which lasts a mere 71 years.
They still don’t even have the instrument built yet.
The next chord change will come on July 5, 2008. (Until then, for those interested, the chord consists of G sharp, F sharp, C and A, in descending order.) All changes occur on the fifth day of the month, in honor of Cage’s birthday, Sept. 5. Pipes will be added or subtracted as needed, although some of the project’s backers dream about building a whole organ one day.
God bless us all.