Missouri Classical Music News and Notes

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. . . .

When Cage wrote his famous work in 1985, there was one tiny detail the late avant-garde composer chose to omit - exactly how slow the piece should be played.

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.

Every so often - although not too often, you understand - a chord change is made on the church organ and the piece of music edges a tiny bit closer to the end.