As Slow as Possible



ORGAN2/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible) is a musical piece by John Cage and the subject of the second-longest-lasting 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 was played on February 5, 2024. The next note will be played on August 5, 2026.

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 ensure no two performances would be the same, and give judges a break from the consistency of most compositions. The score is eight pages.

Performances
Diane Luchese played Organ2/ASLSP from 8:45 am to 11:41 pm on February 5, 2009, at Towson University. This 14-hour-56-minute performance was the longest recorded individual performance until 2022. YouTube and Twitch channel 'AllRequest_Live' performed an adapted version of ASLSP to a live audience for 24 hours, from 12:00am on February 4, 2022, to 12:00am on February 5, 2022. Stephen Whittington performed an 8-hour version of ASLSP on the Elder Hall organ for John Cage Day in 2012 at the University of Adelaide. Organists Patrick Wedd, Adrian Foster, and Alex Ross gave a 12-hour team performance at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal, in 2015. Composer Frank Felice orchestrated and recorded an electronic realization in 2015–2016 for a performance that 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. Daniel Cooper gave a 12-hour performance in Knox Church to mark the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice in 2019. Christopher Anderson gave a 16-hour performance, currently the second slowest performance and longest complete performance on record, on March 8, 2022, at Perkins Chapel on the campus of Southern Methodist University. Starting at 5:00 P.M. January 29, 2023, and finishing at around 5:00 P.M. January 30, Alexander Meszler completed a 24-hour solo performance of the complete work on the Hendrickson organ in the Sundt Organ Studio at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

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, in 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.

Until 2011 Acrylic glass encased it to reduce the volume.

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 February 5, 2024. The performance is scheduled to end on September 4, 2640.