ASLSP (1985)
(As Slow As Possible)

ASLSP was commissioned by The Friends of the Maryland Summer Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts and was one of the works selected for the University of Maryland International Piano Festival and Competition (later known as the William Kapell Competition). Its title stands for “As Slow(ly) and Soft(ly) as Possible,” and also refers to “Soft morning city! Lsp!” from James Joyceʼs Finnegans Wake. The work consists of eight pieces, one of which should be omitted in performance and one other repeated. The order of the pieces must be maintained, but the repetition may be freely placed. This because, as Thomas Moore recalls, Cage thought that the competition jury wouldn’t have to listen to the same piece over and over again. Dynamics and tempo are free. Cage indicates that, in a performance a correspondence between space and time should be realized so that the music “sound” as it “looks”.