As Slow as Possible

This article is about the musical piece. For the GIF of a similar name, see As Long As Possible.

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.^[1] 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.^[2]

St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany

ORGAN²/ASLSP has been playing in Halberstadt for

23 years, 9 months, 2 weeks and 4 days

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.

Record performances

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.[3] 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.[4]
Alexander Meszler	24	2023, January 29 5:00 P.M.	Sundt Organ Studio, Luther College	The longest performance on a pipe organ (organist on the bench). Streamed online and open to the public.[5][6] Program notes from the organist.
Diane Luchese	14.93	2009, February 5 8:45am	Towson University	Until 2022, it was the longest completed performance.[7] Previous world record holder for longest live performance of a single musical piece performed by a human.
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 performances could be considered to take 35 seconds, 3.5 hours, 3 days, or 1 year (the time used here is for the single performance of the entire piece) [8]

Halberstadt performance

The bellows used for the Halberstadt performance

The organ used for the 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.^[9] 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.^[10][11]

The instrument

An organ was built specifically for the performance.^[12] 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, likely due to potential noise complaints.^[13]

Performance

The Halberstadt performance started on September 5, 2001, with a rest lasting until February 5, 2003, when the first pipes played.^[14][15] Sandbags depress the organ's pedals to maintain the notes.^[2] 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.^[16] 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.

John Cage ORGAN²/ASLSP (639 years, part 1: 70 years)^[17]

Impulse Action Notes Date Chord length 1 Begin none September 5, 2001 2 Sound G♯4, B4, G♯5 February 5, 2003 518 d 3 Sound E3, E4 July 5, 2004 516 d 4 Release G♯4, B4 July 5, 2005 365 d 5 Sound A4, C5, F♯5 January 5, 2006 184 d 6 Release E3, E4 May 5, 2006 120 d 7 Sound C4, A♭4 July 5, 2008 792 d 8 Release C4 November 5, 2008 123 d 9 Sound D4, E5 February 5, 2009 92 d 10 Release E5 July 5, 2010 515 d 11 Release D4, G♯5 February 5, 2011 215 d 12 Sound C4 (16′), D♭4 (16′) August 5, 2011 181 d Release A♭4 13 Release A4, C5, F♯5 July 5, 2012 335 d 14 Sound D♯4, A♯4, E5 October 5, 2013 457 d 15 Sound G♯3, E4 September 5, 2020 2,527 d 16 Release G♯3 February 5, 2022 518 d 17 Sound D4 February 5, 2024 730 d 18 Sound A4 August 5, 2026 912 d 19 Release E4 October 5, 2027 426 d 20 Sound G3 April 5, 2028 183 d 21 Release D4 August 5, 2028 122 d 22 Release A4 March 5, 2030 577 d 23 Release D♯4, E5 September 5, 2030 184 d 24 Release G3 May 5, 2033 973 d 25 Sound B3 December 5, 2033 214 d 26 Sound F3, D4 August 5, 2034 243 d 27 Release F3, D4 September 5, 2034 31 d 28 Release B3 October 5, 2034 30 d 29 Sound D♭5 June 5, 2035 243 d 30 Sound A2 (16′) September 5, 2037 823 d Release D♭5 31 Sound A♭4, A♭5 March 5, 2038 181 d 32 Release A♭5 July 5, 2038 122 d 33 Release A♭4 May 5, 2039 304 d

Impulse Action Notes Date Chord length 34 Sound D4, A♭4 December 5, 2039 214 d 35 Release D4, A♭4 April 5, 2040 122 d 36 Sound D♭3, B♭3 January 5, 2041 275 d 37 Release D♭3, B♭3 March 5, 2042 424 d 38 Release A2 (16′) November 5, 2043 610 d 39 Sound A3, D4 July 5, 2044 243 d 40 Sound E4 March 5, 2045 243 d Release A♯4 41 Sound B4, C5, A♯5 March 5, 2046 365 d 42 Release C4 (16′), B4, C5, A♯5 October 5, 2047 579 d 43 Sound C3 (16′) February 5, 2049 489 d 44 Sound D♯4, A4 April 5, 2050 424 d 45 Release A3, D4, E4 February 5, 2051 306 d 46 Release D♯4, A4 November 5, 2051 273 d 47 Sound E♭3, B3 May 5, 2053 547 d 48 Release C3 (16′) November 5, 2054 549 d 49 Release E♭3, B3 July 5, 2056 608 d 50 Sound B♭4 August 5, 2057 396 d 51 Sound A2 (16′) May 5, 2058 273 d 52 Release A2 (16′) November 5, 2059 549 d 53 Sound G♭4, C5, D♭5 April 5, 2060 152 d 54 Release G♭4, C5, D♭5 June 5, 2060 61 d 55 Sound E4 November 5, 2060 153 d Release B♭4 56 Sound B4, C5, E♭5, C6 February 5, 2061 92 d 57 Release C5, E♭5, C6 April 5, 2061 59 d 58 Sound D4 September 5, 2061 153 d Release E4 59 Sound A♯3, D♯4, F♯4 August 5, 2062 334 d 60 Release A♯3, F♯4 February 5, 2064 549 d 61 Sound A3, A4 January 5, 2067 1,065 d Release D♯4 62 Release D4 June 5, 2067 151 d 63 Release A3, A4 July 5, 2068 396 d 64 Release D♭4 (16′) March 5, 2071 973 d 65 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