Longest non-repetitive piano piece
Encyclopedia
This page attempts to list the longest non-repetitive piano pieces along with approximate duration and the number of pages they cover.
Works that have been performed and/or recorded
- Jacob Mashak – Beatus Vir (about 11 hours)
- Though a work for two pianos, it is the longest of these pieces. It received its premiere on 31 October 2008 at Boston University with the composer, Molly Wood and Luke Berryman playing in rotation.
- Frederic RzewskiFrederic RzewskiFrederic Anthony Rzewski is an American composer and virtuoso pianist.- Biography :Rzewski began playing piano at age 5. He attended Phillips Academy, Harvard and Princeton, where his teachers included Randall Thompson, Roger Sessions, Walter Piston and Milton Babbitt...
– The Road (about 10 hours; MS: 539 pp.)- The composer performed parts of it at concerts. Part of it is available on CD by the composer.
- A complete performance at Trinity College of Music, London, on 8 May 2006, featuring Rzewski himself, Douglas Finch, Yonty SolomonYonty SolomonJonathan " "Sir" Yonty" Solomon was a South African pianist who was soloist throughout the world with many of the most important symphony orchestras....
, Philip FowkePhilip Fowke-Biography:Philip Francis Fowke studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Gordon Green, a pupil of Egon Petri. In 1974 he made his London debut with a recital at the Wigmore Hall . That year he won joint second place at the BBC Piano Competition...
, Philip Mead and Ian PaceIan PaceIan Pace is a British pianist.Pace studied at Chetham's School of Music, The Queen's College, Oxford and the Juilliard School in New York. His main teacher was the Hungarian pianist György Sándor....
, had a duration of a little under ten hours of music, so this may be the longest work for solo piano.
- Kaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was an English composer, music critic, pianist, and writer.-Biography:...
– Symphonic Variations for Piano (about 9 hours; MS: 484 A3 pp.)- Variation 56 (of 81) has been recorded by Michael HabermannMichael HabermannMichael Habermann is a pianist and professor at the Peabody Institute.His intense study of the music of English-Parsi composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji has resulted in four recordings. In 1979, Sorabji dedicated a 93-page piano work to him...
. - Variation 56 has been performed by Chappell Kingsland.
- Variation 56 (of 81) has been recorded by Michael Habermann
- Sorabji – Sequentia cyclica super "Dies irae" ex Missa pro defunctis in clavicembali usum (about 7 hours; MS: 335 A3 pp.)
- Premiered by Jonathan Powell.
- Sorabji – Études transcendantes (100) (about 7 hours; MS: 456 A3 pp.)
- The first 62 etudes have been recorded by Fredrik UllénFredrik UllénFredrik Ullén is a Swedish pianist. He has made recordings for the BIS, BMG Classics, Caprice, Danacord, dbProductions, and Phono Suecia labels....
. The etudes that have not yet been performed in public are Nos. 27, 33, 38, 39, 42, 51, 53–58, 60–64, 68, 69, 71, 74, 78, 79 (according to reference #9), 82, 87–91, 93, and 94.
- The first 62 etudes have been recorded by Fredrik Ullén
- Alvin CurranAlvin CurranComposer Alvin Curran , is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, of Musica Elettronica Viva, and a former student of Elliott Carter. Curran's music often makes use of electronics and environmental found sounds....
– Inner Cities (about 6 hours)- Inner Cities 1–14 (1991–2010) performed by Daan Vandewalle published by Long Distance Records (Harmonia Mundi) in March 2005.
- Michael FinnissyMichael FinnissyMichael Finnissy is an English composer and pianist. His music is characterised by the range of extremes often found in his work; opposing binary structures are found commonly, often seen as juxtaposing textures, register and tempi...
– The History of Photography in Sound (about 5½ hours; ED: 365 pp.):- World premiere on 28 January 2001 at The Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of MusicRoyal Academy of MusicThe Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
in London by Ian PaceIan PaceIan Pace is a British pianist.Pace studied at Chetham's School of Music, The Queen's College, Oxford and the Juilliard School in New York. His main teacher was the Hungarian pianist György Sándor....
, who has also performed it complete in LeuvenLeuvenLeuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
, GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and SouthamptonSouthamptonSouthampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
and recorded it for Metier (the recording has yet to be released). - Also performed by Mark KnoopMark KnoopMark Knoop is an Australian pianist.Knoop was born in Hobart, Tasmania. He studied piano at the Victorian College of the Arts and later in Europe with Stephen McIntyre, Herbert Henck, James Avery and Peter Feuchtwanger, as well as conducting with Robert Rosen...
at the Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Centre in Melbourne on 18 August 2002.
- World premiere on 28 January 2001 at The Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of Music
- Sorabji – Opus clavicembalisticumOpus ClavicembalisticumOpus clavicembalisticum is a solo piano piece composed by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, completed on June 26, 1930.The piece is notable for its length and difficulty: at the time of its completion it was the longest piano piece in existence. Its duration is around four hours, depending on tempo...
(about 4 hours; MS: 260 A3 pp.)- Premiered by the composer himself.
- Performed and recorded by Geoffrey Douglas MadgeGeoffrey Douglas MadgeGeoffrey Douglas Madge is an Australian classical pianist and composer.Madge performed long and arduous works, he has twice recorded Sorabji's Opus clavicembalisticum, one of the longest and most difficult works ever written for the piano...
. - Performed and recorded by John OgdonJohn OgdonJohn Andrew Howard Ogdon was an English pianist and composer.-Biography:Ogdon was born in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, and attended Manchester Grammar School, before studying at the Royal Northern College of Music between 1953 and 1957, where his fellow students under Richard Hall...
. - Performed by Jonathan PowellJonathan Powell (musician)Jonathan Powell is a British pianist and composer. He was a student of Denis Matthews and Sulamita Aronovsky. He made his performing debut at the age of 20 in the Purcell Room in London....
. - Performed by Daan Vandewalle.
Works that have not been performed nor recorded yet
- Kaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was an English composer, music critic, pianist, and writer.-Biography:...
– Sonata V (Opus archimagicum) (about 6 hours; MS: 336 A3 pp.) - Sorabji – Symphonic Nocturne for Piano Alone (about 2 hours; MS: 113 A3 pp.)
- Although the estimated duration of the unperformed work is only around 2 hours, the work is in one continuous movement, such a duration being unusual even for Sorabji to be presented in a single movement.