German town celebrates next chord in a 639-year concert

A note from a piece by a US composer is to be played this weekend in a German town in what has been called the world's slowest and longest concert.

The church organ in Halberstadt will play the next - sixth - chord of John Cage's As Slow As Possible work.

The performance began in 2000 and is scheduled to last a total of 639 years.



The idea of taking so long to get through the composer's piece is to find a musical way of countering the hustle and bustle of modern life.

Its maiden performance lasted a rather normal 29 minutes. A subsequent version took 71 minutes. But at the medieval church in Halberstadt, they are really testing the patience of the audience.

This weekend, weights holding down the organ pedals will be shifted and the sixth chord change will occur, to much celebration in the town centre.

You can hear the latest note here.