Yesterday’s post about the continuously playing piano got me thinking. And it also reminded me of something…

Really, that piano’s endless prattling has NOTHING on “As Slow As Possible,” John Cage’s 639-year composotion. That’s right. IT TAKES 639 FUCKING YEARS TO PLAY!

Right now, and for the last few years at the Sankt-Burchardi Church in Germany, “As Slow As Possible” is being hammered out on a church organ. The piece began in 2001, but the first audible note didn’t come until 2003 as the first 17 months consisted of air sucking into the organ’s bellows.

Notes on the composition:

“There are eight pieces, any one of which must be omitted and any one of which must be repeated. The repetition may be placed anywhere (even before its appearance in the suite) but otherwise the order of the pieces as written shall be maintained.

Neither tempo nor dynamics have been notated. Time proportions are given (just as maps give proportional distances). Accidentals apply only to those pitches they directly precede.”

And, get a load of a partial schedule of changing notes (of course, organ’s sustain notes indefinitely so someone doesn’t have to be sitting there the whole time, obviously):

July 5, 2004 July 5, 2005 January 5, 2006 May 5, 2006 July 5, 2008 November 5, 2008 February 5, 2009

This project is absolutely awesome and totally crazy. It’ll be quite a triumph if future generations finish this thing… So mark your calendars for, uh, September 5th, 2640. Shit… too bad we all know the world ends in 2012…