As SLow aS Possible
The longest ongoing performance ever started in 2001 in the German Halberstadt: until the year 2640, an organ will play the piece 'As Slow aS Possible' (ASLSP) there, by the experimental composer John Cage. Cage originally composed the piece for the piano. The piece is played as slow as a piano allows you to, by letting the tones resound completely; a performance of ASLSP thus lasts twenty to sixty minutes. But when Cage orchestrated this piece for the organ in 1987, the boundaries were blurred: in theory, a tone on an electric organ could resound for centuries. So the Halberstadt version, with its duration of 639 years is actually a compromise - not as slow as possible, but as slow as practically feasible. Nevertheless it is an impressive project. The accord that is currently sounding in the Burchardkirche started in 2013; the next change of accords takes place on September 5, 2020. But the project is also tragic - no-one will ever hear the entire piece. That is exactly what makes a visit to the Burchardkirche worthwhile: it is both a meditation on finitude and a musical performance.