World famous French organist Marie-Claire Alain died on February 26, 2013, at the age of 86. Long ago I’ve heard her live several times and in particular immensely enjoyed her Bach-playing. Here the brilliant organist from Paris plays one of (imo) Bach’s most beautiful organ pieces.
Marie-Claire Alain, RIP.
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. 🙂
Wow, fabulous… veery impressive! The awesome organ playing here works perfect as an addition to the events in Murnau’s classic ‘Nosferatu’. Hats off to Mathias Rehfeldt’s brilliant achievement! A must-watch!
I consider ‘O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde gross’ (BWV 622) one of Bach’s most beautiful works for organ.
It’s played here by world renowned organ player Marie-Claire Alain. Brilliant architecture and moving at the same time, one of Bach’s trademarks. I’ve cherished the beauty of this piece ever since I first heard it as a child.