[artinfo] Fwd: FLUXLIST: slowly slowly cage in 639 years (fwd)

[Andrea Szekeres]

>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 18:00:59 +0200
>From: "by way of iput@c3.hu (St.Auby Tamas)" <chukm@ere.umontreal.ca>
>To: intermedia-l@c3.hu
>Subject: FLUXLIST: slowly slowly cage in 639 years
>
>German Church Hosts Cage Concert
>Associated Press - 5 September 2001, 2:40 PM EDT
>
>FRANKFURT, Germany -- A performance of an organ piece by American
>composer John Cage that is meant to last 639 years began in an
>eastern German church with 16 months of silence.
>
>The project honoring Cage's avant-garde work started at midnight
>Tuesday in Halberstadt and foresees taking the composer at his word
>by stretching Organ2/ASLSP -- the letters stand for As Slow As
>Possible -- over centuries.
>
>"We hope each generation will continue the project and as long as
>there are no more wars or other major disruptions, it will go on
>until its end," Michael Betzle, head of the John Cage Organ
>Foundation in Halberstadt, said by telephone Wednesday.
>
>"We know that it may sound like a utopian dream, but we believe that
>it can be done."
>
>Only the bellows are ready so far on the organ being built for the
>extended concert in the St. Burchardi Church, 125 miles west of
>Berlin.
>
>That's no problem, since the first three notes won't be played until
>Jan. 5, 2003. Until then, time will be marked by the sound of air
>rushing through the bellows.
>
>Three hundred people attended the opening of the concert, which
>marked Cage's birthday. He died in 1992 at age 79.
>
>Before the whoosh of the bellows began, other Cage pieces and a
>modern ballet were performed.
>
>The fifth of the month will serve as the date for all musical changes
>-- such as going from a rest to a note -- which will be done by an
>organist. Afterward, weights on the keyboard are to secure the
>combination of the notes until the next change.
>
>The church is open every day to visitors.
>for more : John Cage: http://www.john-cage.halberstadt.de
>.