Isn't it nice to know that in this busy, distressed world there are still people who find time for the really important things?
Never mind the global financial crisis, never mind climate change and rising sea levels, never mind Islamic fundamentalism and the threat of international terrorism, never mind pollution, never mind the starving millions in Africa, never mind the surveillance society and the extinction of free speech in Europe, never mind speed cameras and traffic wardens and fines for dropping a fag end in the street because you're not allowed to smoke in the pub, never mind obesity and vicious incompetence in the NHS, never mind teenage pregnancies and the rising tide of an underclass that breeds and eats and uses up resources and contributes nothing …
Never mind all that! In little pockets of reason, here and there, nestling like fragile buds amid the folded leaves of society and shining out like tiny beacons of sense and spirituality, there are people with an exalted purpose, people who keep the flame of art and literature and music burning …
The American avant-garde composer and well-known idiot John Cage died in 1992 - and not a moment too soon, if you ask us. His works included 4'33" which, as the title suggests, lasts four minutes and thirty-three seconds and is totally silent; pieces for "prepared piano" - basically an ordinary piano with various objects fixed on or through the strings; a quartet using "a muted piano, a suspended cymbal, and two variable-speed turntables on which single-frequency radio test records were played at various steady speeds and also sliding between speeds in siren-like glissandos"; and pieces based on the I Ching in which the notes to be played are chosen entirely at random.
Another composer, Mike Batt (the creator of the Wombles music) was once forced to pay a six-figure sum of money to Cage's publishers because he also wrote a silent piece of music - and they sued for plagiarism.
In the Church of St.Burchardi in Halberstadt, Germany, they are currently performing Cage's composition entitled Organ˛/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible). Written in 1987, original performances lasted between 20 and 70 minutes depending on the patience of the performers and what time the pub shut - Cage omitted to explain just what he meant by "slow".
The piece is for the organ, and at Halberstadt they are using an organ built specifically for this performance. The performance began in 2001, and by 2005 the organ only had six pipes - presumably all the piece needed at that stage. Because, obviously, the instrument sounds constantly, there is a cube of acrylic glass around it in case anyone actually hears the music. It's a secret, apparently.
The first chord lasted three years. The second (A above middle C, C above middle C and the F# above that) began on January 5, 2006 and will conclude on July 5, 2012. It isn't necessary for someone to actually sit at the organ playing all that time (though one wouldn't put it past them). Instead, weights placed on the keys keep the notes sounding until it's time to move to another note.
The performance is planned to continue until September 5, 2640, having lasted 639 years. That'll teach John Cage, all right!
That is, it'll last 639 years if there isn't a power cut. Or if the world doesn't end. Or Global Warming.
Always provided someone can be arsed to keep the stupid thing going, of course …
The GOS says: There's even a website for the project here. I couldn't be bothered to look, but if there's a "contact us" button you could send them a rude message.
If you've got time, that is.
either on this site or on the World Wide Web.
Copyright © 2009 The GOS
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