Organ²/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible) is a musical piece by John Cage and the subject of the second-longest-lasting (after Longplayer) musical performance yet undertaken. Cage wrote it in 1987 for organ, as an adaptation of his 1985 composition ASLSP for piano. A performance of the piano version usually lasts 20 to 70 minutes.
An organ in St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt in 2001 began a performance that is due to end in 2640. This makes it the longest running non-computerized piece currently being performed. The most recent note (an A4 pipe) was added on August 5, 2026. The next note will be played on October 5, 2027.
History The Friends of the Maryland Summer Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts commissioned the piece for contemporary requirement of a piano competition. Cage used an open format to encourage that no two performances would be the same, and give judges a break from the consistency of most compositions. The score is eight pages.
Record performances
Several attempts have been made for the longest known performance of this piece.
Performer(s) Duration in hours Start time Location Notes Francesco Pio Gennarelli 25.003 2025, March 4 14:10pm Streamed Live on YouTube from Middlesex University The performance was also open to the public to walk in and listen at any time. It can be viewed in its entirety on YouTube. Current world record holder for longest live performance of a single musical piece performed by a human. AllRequest_Live "Albert Wright" 24.001 2022, February 4 12:00pm Streamed Live on Twitch from an undisclosed location The performance can be viewed in its entirety on YouTube. Alexander Meszler 24 2023, January 29 5:00pm - January 30 5:00pm Sundt Organ Studio, Luther College The performance was livestreamed and open to the public. It was also the longest known single-human performance at a pipe organ. Diane Luchese 14.93 2009, February 5 8:45am Towson University Until 2022, it was the longest completed performance. Alex Ross, Patrick Wedd, Adrian Foster 8 2015 Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal World record holder for longest live performance of a single musical piece performed by a team of humans. Frank Felice 3.5 2016 Online Performance was delivered online to an iPhone app for ArtsFest 2016 at Butler University. A thirty-five second snippet was posted each day for a year; the whole three and a half hour realization was played as a fixed media piece during the three-day Artsfest. The time used here is for the single performance of the entire piece.
On March 8, 2022, Dr. Christopher Anderson performed what was believed to be a record-breaking 16-hour in-person public performance of ASLSP/2 at Perkins Chapel, Southern Methodist University, from 6am to 10pm. (Unbeknownst to other parties, a livestream of the work was happening around the same time on a podcast.) The work was livestreamed and also had a large public attendance in person. The effort was undertaken in coordination with Bridwell Library at SMU, which hosted an accompanying John Cage-honored festival called the "Festival of Form" that featured other concerts of Cage and Cage-affiliated composers, a special collections exhibit with Cage manuscripts, and a "Dinner in the Dark" at Bridwell Library, composed of all-mushroom dishes and recordings of Cage reciting haiku poetry.
After several organists recognized the growing interest in ASLSP/2 and the desire to “stretch” the piece to its human limits, Dr. Anderson joined Kimberly Marshall, Diane Luchese, and Alexander Meszler to perform ASLSP/2 for 8 full days, 24 hours a day in 6-hour shifts. The 8 days, coming in at 192 hours total, now stands as the record for human group effort public performance. It lasted from noon on January 7 to noon on January 15 at the ASU Organ Hall.
Halberstadt performance
Background Musicians and philosophers discussed Cage's instruction to play "as slow as possible" at a conference in 1997, because a properly maintained pipe organ could sound indefinitely. The John Cage Organ Foundation Halberstadt decided to play the piece for 639 years, to mark the time between the first documented permanent organ installation in Halberstadt Cathedral, circa 1361, and the originally proposed start date of 2000. Because of a lack of money, the date was postponed by one year. The chord changes of the first part which ends in 2072 were calculated by Christoph Bossert and Rainer O. Neugebauer. Until August 2021 the Foundation sold plaques commemorating the years through 2640 to fund the performance.
The instrument An organ was built specifically for the performance. It is in the church's right transept, with the bellows in the left transept.
In 2011, the organ was encased in acrylic glass to reduce the volume, likely due to potential noise complaints.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
Performance The Halberstadt performance started on September 5, 2001, with a rest lasting until February 5, 2003, when the first pipes played. Sandbags depress the organ's pedals to maintain the notes. On July 5, 2008, two more organ pipes were added alongside the four already installed and the tone became more complex at 15:33 local time. The bellows provide a constant supply of air to keep the pipes playing. On July 5, 2012, two more organ pipes were taken out, and two were in the organ. The note last changed on August 5, 2026. The performance is scheduled to end on September 5, 2640. All notes are played on the 5th day of the month.
+John Cage Organ²/ASLSP (639 years, part 1: 70 years) Impulse Action Notes Date Chordlength1 Beginnone September 5, 20012 Sound G4, B4, G5 February 5, 2003 518 d3 Sound E3, E4 July 5, 2004 516 d4 Release G4, B4 July 5, 2005 365 d5 Sound A4, C5, F5 January 5, 2006 184 d6 Release E3, E4 May 5, 2006 120 d7 Sound C4, A4 July 5, 2008 792 d8 Release C4 November 5, 2008 123 d9 Sound D4, E5 February 5, 2009 92 d10 Release E5 July 5, 2010 515 d11 Release D4, G5 February 5, 2011 215 d12 Sound C4 (16′), D4 (16′) August 5, 2011 181 dRelease A413 Release A4, C5, F5 July 5, 2012 335 d14 Sound D4, A4, E5 October 5, 2013 457 d15 Sound G3, E4 September 5, 2020 2,527 d16 Release G3 February 5, 2022 518 d17 Sound D4 February 5, 2024 730 d18 Sound A4 August 5, 2026 912 d19 Release E4 October 5, 2027 426 d20 Sound G3 April 5, 2028 183 d21 Release D4 August 5, 2028 122 d22 Release A4 March 5, 2030 577 d23 Release D4, E5 September 5, 2030 184 d24 Release G3 May 5, 2033 973 d25 Sound B3 December 5, 2033 214 d26 Sound F3, D4 August 5, 2034 243 d27 Release F3, D4 September 5, 2034 31 d28 Release B3 October 5, 2034 30 d29 Sound D5 June 5, 2035 243 d30 Sound A2 (16′) September 5, 2037 823 d Release D531 Sound A4, A5 March 5, 2038 181 d32 Release A5 July 5, 2038 122 d33 Release A4 May 5, 2039 304 d Impulse Action Notes Date Chordlength34 Sound D4, A4 December 5, 2039 214 d35 Release D4, A4 April 5, 2040 122 d36 Sound D3, B3 January 5, 2041 275 d37 Release D3, B3 March 5, 2042 424 d38 Release A2 (16′) November 5, 2043 610 d39 Sound A3, D4 July 5, 2044 243 d40 Sound E4 March 5, 2045 243 d Release A441 Sound B4, C5, A5 March 5, 2046 365 d42 Release C4 (16′), B4, C5, A5 October 5, 2047 579 d43 Sound C3 (16′) February 5, 2049 489 d44 Sound D4, A4 April 5, 2050 424 d45 Release A3, D4, E4 February 5, 2051 306 d46 Release D4, A4 November 5, 2051 273 d47 Sound E3, B3 May 5, 2053 547 d48 Release C3 (16′) November 5, 2054 549 d49 Release E3, B3 July 5, 2056 608 d50 Sound B4 August 5, 2057 396 d51 Sound A2 (16′) May 5, 2058 273 d52 Release A2 (16′) November 5, 2059 549 d53 Sound G4, C5, D5 April 5, 2060 152 d54 Release G4, C5, D5 June 5, 2060 61 d55 Sound E4 November 5, 2060 153 d Release B456 Sound B4, C5, E5, C6 February 5, 2061 92 d57 Release C5, E5, C6 April 5, 2061 59 d58 Sound D4 September 5, 2061 153 d Release E459 Sound A3, D4, F4 August 5, 2062 334 d60 Release A3, F4 February 5, 2064 549 d61 Sound A3, A4 January 5, 2067 1,065 d Release D462 Release D4 June 5, 2067 151 d63 Release A3, A4 July 5, 2068 396 d64 Release D4 (16′) March 5, 2071 973 d65 Release B4 July 5, 2071 122 d
See also As Long as Possible, a GIF-based visual art work named in tribute to As Slow as Possible List of compositions by John Cage Longplayer
References
External links Website of the Halberstadt event As Slow As Possible, Performance Today feature (National Public Radio), September 2003 Recordings of a nine-hour performance of ASLSP at ARTSaha! 2006 by Joseph Drew: Hour One, Hour Six, Hour Nine Die eingefrorene Zeit, Die Zeit, January 8, 2006 (JC{639}) Documentary Film by Sabine Groschup, 2006/20012 Website of the documentary film ASAP by Scott Smith "World's longest concert will last 639 years" The Washington Post. November 21, 2011. A Visit to John Cage's 639-Year Organ Composition von Aaron Gonsher, Red Bull Music Academy, April 12, 2019 The Longest Song, Newstalk Radio Dublin, The Sean Moncrieff Show, September 11, 2020 Meet John Cage, the Innovative Composer Behind the 639-year-long Consert, HowStuffWorks, October 27, 2020 Cage Conversation with Richard T. Eldridge, NAMM Show Believe in Music Week, January 2021 How Slow Is Slow?, FutureStops. A project of the Royal Canadian College of Organists Podcast Episode 02, September 23, 2021 The John Cage Organ Project & the Climate Change, Interview with Warren Senders, Music 4 Climate Justice at 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow November 12, 2021 The longest, slowest organ music ever, Interview with Bianca Hillier, The World (radio program), January 4, 2023 A 639-year-long John Cage organ piece just changed chord, for the first time in two years by Kyle Macdonald, Classic FM (UK), February 6, 2024 Counter-Architectures: ORGAN²/ASLSP, John Cage and Utopia by Elijah Beaton, wildflower.work, February 25, 2024 Listen to the unique sound, Lecture at the 1st International LTAP Conference in Halberstadt (Germany), August 31, 2024