Hundreds assemble as John Cage piece changes chord for the first time in 7 years

UPI ^ | 09/05/2020 | Christen McCurdy

[BenLurkin]

Hundreds of people flocked to a German church Saturday to hear an organ change chords for the first time in nearly seven years.

The experimental piece, which consists of eight pages of music meant to be played very slowly, is intended to last for an entirety of 639 years -- meaning it will end in 2640 if all goes according to plan.

The organ had been playing the same chord for six years and 11 months before Saturday's chord change

Best known for a composition called 4'33" -- which is just four minutes and 33 seconds of silence -- Cage wrote Organ/ASLSP in the 1980s.

[Salamander]

LOL

/not sorry I clicked this thread

[Salamander]

It made me miss the days of modem handshakes

/not

[right way right]

What is the new chord!
What was the old chord!
We have to know!

[Salamander]

LOL

[Salamander]

Ennio Morricone?

[An Appeal to Heaven]

Ughhhhh... Such stupid, pointless, worthless decadence; a mockery of art and beauty. And it’s disgusting that a church is using its space meant for worshipping God on this meaninglessness.

[An Appeal to Heaven]

Brilliant! Couldn’t have said it better myself.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Oddly enough some really good music is coming out of video games.

Baba Yetu from Civilization IV is a good example.

The Lord's Prayer, in Swahili sung by the Soweto Gospel Choir with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Such beauty. And it will get stuck in your head.

[windsorknot]

Slap paint on a canvas. Toss a few notes and chords with endless repetition on sheet music. Modern (minimalist) music imitates modern art. The emperor has no clothes.

[Fernet Branca]

When I was in a certain NYC conservatory in the 80s I went to Schirmers Music and found a copy of the sheet music for “4:33.” It was literally a cover reading “John Cage” and underneath “4:33” . There was nothing inside. I believe it cost $15 bucks at the time.

[alexander_busek]

I saw a Cage performance back around 1973 in Ann Arbor. Damned if I can recall any of it.

Is it already over? Or are you writing this as a brief (half-century-long) intermission comes to an end?

Regards,

[ADemocratNoMore]

...In A Gadda Da Vida

I did a 72 minute remix of IAGDV once.

[Salamander]

I beg of you, please do not share it with me.

:D

[ADemocratNoMore]

>639 years

639 years ?

Meh !

Anybody can download a copy of Paulstretch and load any .wav file they want. The hyperstretch mode allows you to stretch up to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 times. That’s 1,902,587,519 years for a one minute song.

http://hypermammut.sourceforge.net/paulstretch/

[flaglady47]

“I didn’t really get Cage though.”

I’m not sure hardly anyone did, lol. I suspect he had a fan club based more on his rather innovative musical schemes rather than the actual product that was produced, and amongst those who wanted to be part of the “in” crowd, claiming to understand what Cage was up to. I will say he was flamboyant. Kind of the P.T. Barnum of avant garde music.

[Swordmaker]

Is it already over? Or are you writing this as a brief (half-century-long) intermission comes to an end?

You misunderstand. . . It’s not an intermission, it’s a rest; a period of instrumental silence in the performance. It’s written in the score as: 47 yrs, 4’ 33” and then a new chord in a diminished 7th. Very dramatic.

[eartick]

I guess I have to be the one to ask the question. Why?

[drSteve78]

I would imagine that there were snails dancing in the aisles.

[Sequoyah101]

Seriously, people have run out of things to do.

[hinckley buzzard]

Furniture music. Eric Satie would be proud.