One must love John Cage, the minimalist composer known for his avant garde works such as "4:33" and, of course, the soundtrack for the South Park non-denominations non-offensive winter solstice show. But this really takes balls: in an abandoned church in Germany, Cage's newest work is playing out over 639 years. You read that right - 639 years. It's played on a church organ with weights holding down keys (Keith Emerson would have used knives). Every so many years, new pipes are added to contribute to the cacophony. The tune started out one and a half years of silence. Cage himself has been dead since 1992. This work, officially titled Organ2/ASLSP ("Organ squared/As slow as possible") was originally written for piano in 1985 and rearranged for organ two years later.
Next time anyone calls a prog band "pretentious" for daring to write a song that lasts longer than 5 minutes, I want them to think of this.
Monday, July 05, 2004
I Hope There's An Intermission
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1 comment:
Here's a test to see how far back you check your comments -- I found your blog by searching on my own name. (I'm Beau Dure, and I write soccer stuff on occasion.)
The reason I'm replying here -- actually, I believe Philip Glass was the composer in the South Park non-offensive holiday assembly. I met the guy once years ago, so it stuck in my head.
Nice blog. I linked to your bit about the Air Force needing an accordion player.
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