Organ² / As SLow aS Possible (John Cage) at St. Burchardi Church in Halberstadt

If you can't get out to Halberstadt any time soon, don't worry, you've still got about 600 years to make the trip to experience the longest music performance in human history unfold. "As SLow aS Possible" (ASLSP) was originally a piano piece that composer John Cage later adapted for organ. After Cage's passing in 1992, an organization of music scholars and art historians took up the task to conduct a performance of the composition that takes its title literally to the point of the sublime. The recital of ASLSP began on Sept. 5, 2001 (Cage's birthday) and will conclude in 2640. The decision of a 639-year duration is symbolic: The figure derives in counting back from the year 2000 to 1361, in which first organ with the modern keyboard arrangement had been completed at the Halberstadt cathedral.

Developments in the performance generally take more than one year to occur based on the calculations of the sheet music extended to the centuries-long adaptation. Sandbags are used to hold the required keys in place for as long as necessary. When a change in notes occurs, people gather to witness the seldom-occurring event (by mid-2071, a total of just 65 "impulses" will have transpired). If a rest is called for in the music, you hear within the church the sound of air being directed into the organ from the electronically-powered bellows that keep tones of the instrument resonating uninterrupted for months at a time.

Is there something comforting about the idea of a single live performance that will be carried out and marveled upon by generations of humanity? Yes, I'll say so. The optimism of keeping a piece of art alive for six centuries, in spite of all that is uncertain these days, is something I can get behind.