Longplayeris a musical composition made by British composer and musicianJem Finerwhich is composed to play for 1,000 years without looping. It started to play at midnight on 1 January 2000, and if all goes as planned, it will continue withoutrepetitionuntil 31 December 2999.
| Longplayer | |
|---|---|
| by Jem Finer | |
 | |
| Genre | Experimental music |
| Form | Atonal |
| Performed | 1 January 2000 |
| Duration | 1,000 years |
Longplayerhas been playing for (as of 22:14GMT)
Longplayeris not tied to any one form of technology and can be performed equally by computer or humans playing singing bowls and following a graphic score. There have also been several live performances and future performances continue to be planned. It began as an original commission by arts organisationArtangeland is currently maintained by the Longplayer Trust,[1]and is located inTrinity Buoy Wharfon the north bank of theRiver Thames.
History
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Longplayeris based on an existing piece of music, 20 minutes and 20 seconds in length, which is processed by computer using a simplealgorithm.This gives a large number of variations, which, when played consecutively, gives a total expected runtime of 1000 years. It is played on a single instrument consisting of 234Tibetanstanding bellsandgongsof different sizes,[2]which are able to create a range of sounds by either striking or rolling pieces of wood around the rims. This source music was recorded in December 1999. The piece is described as reflecting on the concepts of time and impermanence from a cosmological and philosophical perspective, and questions traditional ideas about composition sound, time and duration.[2]
The piece was the conclusion of several years' study into musical systems by Finer and is written as a self-generating computer programme. According to Finer, the idea first came to him on the back of a tour bus whilst he was a musician in the folk bandThe Pogues.[3]He began working on the programming in 1995, for which he learned several computer programming languages before finally settling onSuperCollider,a language which uses algorithms to organise notation, data orMIDIto compose music, sometimes known asalgorithmic composition.[4]The programme is regularly transferred from onemotherboardto another in order that the software remains continuously viable.[5]As of 2015 this was operated by a wall ofApplecomputers in the Bow Creek Lighthouse.[6]The music is produced by simple mechanical processes, and Tibetan bowls were decided on partly because of their relative robustness and ability to stay in tune without frequent retuning and partly because they have a long musical tradition stretching back over a thousand years and would not sound fixed to a particular musical fashion in history and become dated.[4]
Listening and performances
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Longplayercould be heard in the relaxation zone of theMillennium Domein London during its year of opening in 2000. The piece is also played in the 19th centurylighthouseatTrinity Buoy Wharfand other public listening posts in the United Kingdom. It can currently[when?]be heard in several locations including theYorkshire Sculpture Park,Horniman MuseumandKings Place.Other listening stations can be found in the United States, Australia and Egypt, where it can still be heard today.[7][when?]It can also be heard via astreamonIcecast.
In 2009 a 1000-minute part of the piece was performed with a 26-piece orchestra on a purpose-built stage at theRoundhouse,a former railway turntable building converted to aperforming artsvenue inChalk Farm,London. Performers includedDavid ToopandAnsuman Biswas,and the piece was played on what Finer described as a "giant synthesiser built of bronze-age technology."[8]Musicians played in shifts in groups of 6, beginning at 08:20BSTwith the performance lasting 16 hours and 40 minutes.[9]
The piece is also available as anappfor mobile devices, designed by Joe Hales and Daniel Jones,[5]which runs independently of the piece being broadcast but is exactly in synchronised performance with it.[6]
Four excerpts ofLongplayerwere released on vinyl LP which accompany a book of the same name written by Finer, along with essays byKodwo Eshun,Janna Levin,andMargaret and Christine Wertheim.[10][11]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Wallace, Helen."Reaching into the future: Longplayer".Kings Place.Retrieved8 March2019.
- ^abVillalonga, Carles."Longplayer, una composición musical de 1.000 años".La Vanguardia.Retrieved8 March2019.
- ^Espiner, Mark."This one will run and run".The Guardian.Retrieved8 March2019.
- ^abRodger, Jennifer."Jem Finer: From here to (almost) eternity".The Independent.Retrieved15 March2019.
- ^abBridle, James."Longplayer: the app that lets you listen to a 1,000-year-long song".The Guardian.Retrieved7 March2019.
- ^abMcauliffe, Colm."Jem Finer of the Pogues: a millennium in music".New Statesman.Retrieved8 March2019.
- ^The Longplayer Trust."Longplayer - Finding Longplayer".Retrieved14 February2009.
- ^Espiner, Mark."How to play music that lasts 1,000 years".The Guardian.Retrieved8 March2019.
- ^Whipple, Tom."Jem Finer on bowls, Longplayer and life with the Pogues".The Times.Retrieved15 March2019.
- ^"Jem Finer - Longplayer".Discogs.Retrieved7 March2019.
- ^"Bookshop".Longplayer.Retrieved15 March2019.