Amelia Cuni’s beautiful interpretation of John Cage’s ‘Solo for Voice 58: 18 Microtonal Ragas’

Early September 2012 I heard (and met) Italian dhrupad singer Amelia Cuni in Göttingen, where she did a concert titled Cosmopolit@n Ragas. It was a beautiful musical event in two parts, starting out with Amelia Cuni’s performance of a raga in traditional dhrupad style. Then she took things in another direction by presenting her dhrupad-styled improvisational skills in a very different musical framework: she performed John Cage‘s Solo for Voice 58: 18 Microtonal Ragas. Here I like to share a beautiful recording of Amelia Cuni interpreting this work of John Cage. Enjoy!

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When things need a bit longer : John Cage’s Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible)

Take it easy, relax and take your time, for instance to enjoy “Organ²/ASLSP(As SLow aS Possible)”, the slowest and longest piece ever, by the late John Cage. The performance started in 2001, but if you only join in now, don’t worry, you haven’t missed much. How come? Well, performing the piece will only take 639 years, it’s nowhere near of a start yet, you’ve just missed 10 years at most. The playing, done by a Church Organ in Halberstadt-Germany, joyfully started on September 5th, 2001 and – if it doesn’t get too tired of this – is scheduled to end in the year 2640. Click here to hear the current sound!


The piece’s 11th Klangwechsel on August 5th, 2011


From a different angle once more the 11th Klangwechsel, in a 4’33” length video 🙂

The board chairman of the John Cage Organ Foundation in Halberstadt and involved in this project, Rainer Neugebauer, says that the performance is a rebuke of hectic modern life: “Everything does not need to happen so fast. If something needs a bit longer then it can give us an inner calm that is rare in normal life.”
Oh yes, that makes sense, but I also think ‘our normal lives’ could do with ‘a bit longer’, as they run out of time so fast. 🙂

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