HALBERSTADT, Germany (AFP) - A new chord was scheduled to sound in the world's slowest and longest lasting concert that is taking a total 639 years to perform.
The abandoned Buchardi church in Halberstadt, eastern Germany, is the venue for a mind-boggling 639-year-long performance of a piece of music by US experimental composer John Cage (1912-1992).
Entitled "organ2/ASLSP" (or "As SLow aS Possible"), the performance began on September 5, 2001 and is scheduled to last until 2639.
The first year and half of the performance was total silence, with the first chord -- G-sharp, B and G-sharp -- not sounding until February 2, 2003.
Then in July 2004, two additional Es, an octave apart, were sounded and are scheduled to be released later this year on May 5.
But at 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Thursday, the first chord was due to progress to a second -- comprising A, C and F-sharp -- and is to be held down over the next few years by weights on an organ being built especially for the project.
Cage originally conceived "ASLSP" in 1985 as a 20-minute work for piano, subsequently transcribing it for organ in 1987.
But organisers of the John Cage Organ Project decided to take the composer at his word and stretch out the performance for 639 years, using Cage's transcription for organ.
The enormous running time was chosen to commemorate the creation of Halberstadt's historic Blockwerk organ in 1361 - 639 years before the current project started.
That original organ, built by Nikolaus Faber for Halberstadt's cathedral, was the first organ ever to be used for liturgical purposes, ringing in a new era in which the organ has played a central role in church music ever since.
As part of Halberstadt's John Cage Organ Project, a brand-new organ is being built specially, with new pipes added in time for when new notes are scheduled to sound.
Cage was a pupil of one of the 20th century's most influential composers, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). Cage's avant-garde oeuvre includes works such as the
notorious "4'33”", a piece comprising four minutes and 33 seconds of total silence, all meticulously notated.
The organisers of the John Cage Organ Project say the record-breaking performance in Halberstadt also has a philosophical background – to "rediscover calm and slowness in today's fast-changing world".
From Yahoo News
More at BBC News
Website of Organ2/ASLSP:
http://www.john-cage.halberstadt.de/new/index.php?l=e
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
what keeps you sane?
what keeps me sane?
- instant messaging programs - ten years ago i downloaded the first version of ICQ which changed human communications forever (as far as i was concerned anyway).
- mamak or coffee with friends! - requires no explanation.
- music - listening to it, producing it (an exception would be violin music, in that, right now i still prefer listening to it played by someone else..).
- Calvin & Hobbes comics - the best thing to read in bed. lets you think happy thoughts in your sleep :-D
- Appendices to The Lord of the Rings - next best thing to fall asleep reading. (Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that the Appendices are boring. Really.)
- Making things - in school i hardly ever bought a wallet or a pencil case cos i made them all. haven't had time to do much these days but i should get that bag of sewing things out of the cupboard and make something!
what keeps you sane?
- instant messaging programs - ten years ago i downloaded the first version of ICQ which changed human communications forever (as far as i was concerned anyway).
- mamak or coffee with friends! - requires no explanation.
- music - listening to it, producing it (an exception would be violin music, in that, right now i still prefer listening to it played by someone else..).
- Calvin & Hobbes comics - the best thing to read in bed. lets you think happy thoughts in your sleep :-D
- Appendices to The Lord of the Rings - next best thing to fall asleep reading. (Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that the Appendices are boring. Really.)
- Making things - in school i hardly ever bought a wallet or a pencil case cos i made them all. haven't had time to do much these days but i should get that bag of sewing things out of the cupboard and make something!
what keeps you sane?
lazy tuesday afternoon
it was real hot and humid out there, and the bag of apples i bought 2 weeks ago would be making cider in the fridge if i didn't do anything about it, so i made an exotic (or so i think) drink out of red apples and ginger, topped with a stick of lemongrass (bruised on the thick end) and a bit of lemon juice. it actually tastes quite good, there's a refreshing whiff of lemongrass and a tangy lemon aftertaste.. except that i think i overdid the ginger (my throat is now seething with heat), and unless you're into sour drinks, a bit of syrup may come in handy.
i'd take a snapshot of a glass of the potent potion and post it up but i can't remember where exactly the camera is after the moving-of-stuff-around over the last week in preparing for the festivities..
speaking of which, i'd better start packing up the stuff i need to move over to the new digs. there isn't much pressure to pack quickly cos the two places are 10 minutes apart in good traffic.. nevertheless i think some stuff HAS to go over today.. since i'll have to get out of the post-vacation vegetation state and do some real work soon :-)
me the nomad.
i'd take a snapshot of a glass of the potent potion and post it up but i can't remember where exactly the camera is after the moving-of-stuff-around over the last week in preparing for the festivities..
speaking of which, i'd better start packing up the stuff i need to move over to the new digs. there isn't much pressure to pack quickly cos the two places are 10 minutes apart in good traffic.. nevertheless i think some stuff HAS to go over today.. since i'll have to get out of the post-vacation vegetation state and do some real work soon :-)
me the nomad.
bali hai
bali was great. the after-effects (well, two for now, cos my brain is still a little veggied):
(1) having to get used to the absence of strange road habits
(i) the balinese use car horns like there's no tomorrow. they honk at passing motorists to "alert them of your presence" (this was from a guidebook). yup. when a motorcycle emerges at the upcoming junction and your driver goes *honk*. in fact you would honk at virtually every junction. your driver changes lanes and while passing the guy who was in front of him, *honk* (and i don't think this was cos he knew the driver of that car). when they're stuck in a traffic jam, when it's obvious nobody's moving, *honk*. car accessory shops and mechanics must have a good life there.
(ii) they hardly use their brakes. going up a mountainous road MAY be an exception.
(iii) officially, they drive on the left side of the road. but more often than not, they seem to prefer the right side. (overtaking-lah)
(2) it's such a RELIEF now that you don't have to bargain every time you step into a shop!
i don't see why bargaining is such fun. it's an awful chore. every time you approach a shop they probably think Ooo, here come rich tourist, we must sell everything at sky-high price because tourist don't know better. for goodness' sake, do you seriously think i would purchase a pair of wraparound pants from a side stall in Bali at Suria KLCC prices when i can get the same thing at the Thai Fair near Carrefour's at RM10 without even having to bargain? and i'm sick of the i'll-have-to-say-take-it-or-leave-it-and-walk-away-but-you'll-come-after-me-anyway-yelling-the-last-price-i-wanted.. look, i just wanted to quickly grab a souvenir so i can move on to a bit more sightseeing and and you KNOW you'll sell it to me at that price anyway (and i don't look anything like a gwailo so i don't have any coffers filled with so much Rupiah equivalent the number of zeros will bust your calculators) so how bout we quit the whole charade? (i later found out that at the new Sogo store in upmarket Nusa Dua, you can get little batik-lined souvenirs at less than RM10 each. all in comfortable air-conditioning and no pesky salespersons and no bargaining necessary)
and speaking of Sogo bags, i should have left them at the hotel before venturing out into the stalls outside the Nusa Dua entrance..
"Oo, sir, ma'am, shopping?"
"Oh, So-go!"
"So-go shopping!"
"Eh, So-go!"
"So-go, ya?"
(1) having to get used to the absence of strange road habits
(i) the balinese use car horns like there's no tomorrow. they honk at passing motorists to "alert them of your presence" (this was from a guidebook). yup. when a motorcycle emerges at the upcoming junction and your driver goes *honk*. in fact you would honk at virtually every junction. your driver changes lanes and while passing the guy who was in front of him, *honk* (and i don't think this was cos he knew the driver of that car). when they're stuck in a traffic jam, when it's obvious nobody's moving, *honk*. car accessory shops and mechanics must have a good life there.
(ii) they hardly use their brakes. going up a mountainous road MAY be an exception.
(iii) officially, they drive on the left side of the road. but more often than not, they seem to prefer the right side. (overtaking-lah)
(2) it's such a RELIEF now that you don't have to bargain every time you step into a shop!
i don't see why bargaining is such fun. it's an awful chore. every time you approach a shop they probably think Ooo, here come rich tourist, we must sell everything at sky-high price because tourist don't know better. for goodness' sake, do you seriously think i would purchase a pair of wraparound pants from a side stall in Bali at Suria KLCC prices when i can get the same thing at the Thai Fair near Carrefour's at RM10 without even having to bargain? and i'm sick of the i'll-have-to-say-take-it-or-leave-it-and-walk-away-but-you'll-come-after-me-anyway-yelling-the-last-price-i-wanted.. look, i just wanted to quickly grab a souvenir so i can move on to a bit more sightseeing and and you KNOW you'll sell it to me at that price anyway (and i don't look anything like a gwailo so i don't have any coffers filled with so much Rupiah equivalent the number of zeros will bust your calculators) so how bout we quit the whole charade? (i later found out that at the new Sogo store in upmarket Nusa Dua, you can get little batik-lined souvenirs at less than RM10 each. all in comfortable air-conditioning and no pesky salespersons and no bargaining necessary)
and speaking of Sogo bags, i should have left them at the hotel before venturing out into the stalls outside the Nusa Dua entrance..
"Oo, sir, ma'am, shopping?"
"Oh, So-go!"
"So-go shopping!"
"Eh, So-go!"
"So-go, ya?"
"You want shopping? Oh, So-go!"
"So-go!"
if i stepped into any of those shops then they'd probably be trying to sell me wraparound pants at the price of Benetton cos i'm bloody Japanese and i shop at Sogo (hubby does carry a bulky canggih-looking camera anyway and i lug a tripod around, so of course we're Japanese-lah). never mind that my Sogo carrier bag which attracted so much attention just contained stuff the stalls would sell me at twice the price.
the balinese are a friendly people, they really are. i wish they'd stop trying to make use of their charm to give me the "please ma'am pity me, i'm not even breaking even, i haven't sold anything today" pitch. i'm glad nobody this time round in Bali has resorted to "i've got kids to feed" thing or i'd have imploded (i'm too nice to explode, so i implode). hey, i'll do charity when i wish to, to a cause I feel like donating to. and after all i'm only a millionaire in Rupiah terms..
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