# longest track



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Yesterday I uploaded Feldman's "Piano and String Quartet" to my iTunes, and it became my new longest track, coming in at 1:19:38.

Does anyone know of a track longer than that? What is the longest you have?


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

The longest track I have is on one of my old Readers Digest cd's. Over two hours but that's only because they forgot to make track marks.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I think mine is Feldman again - his single-movement 1st string quartet weighs in at a hefty 78:35 on my recording. Perhaps it could have been longer still had it not been for the time constraints of a single disc.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

I had a Beethoven CD that was so poorly performed it SEEMED like it was about four hours long.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

elgars ghost said:


> I think mine is Feldman again - his single-movement 1st string quartet weighs in at a hefty 78:35 on my recording. Perhaps it could have been longer still had it not been for the time constraints of a single disc.


Same here, that's the one I've got (the one on Naxos). Keith Jarrett, eat your heart out!

Another one I have has over a dozen songs on the CD, but they left out the tracks, so it's 59 minutes long (all on one track). It's Lloyd-Webber's _Phatom of the Opera _(highlights) with the original London cast, on Polydor label (published 1980's). Maybe early on, when cd's where first coming out, it was easy for them to make mistakes like this? Or maybe it was cheaper to do it that way?


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Every track larger than 30 minutes is huge ... those gigantic ones (more than 45 minutes) frighten me!

Symphonies in their total (movements) longer than 1 hour are very long and huge. So rich, yet hard to memorize.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Pettersson´s 9th symphony conducted Commissiona, a work in 1 movement, is 86 mins long, spread over 4 LP sides. It is decidedly slower than the widely known CPO recording with Francis, but it makes the music much more beautiful and less stressful. Highly recommended; I think there are some transfers on the web. But so far it hasn´t been on CD, I think.

Some Sorabji works/movements are probably longer.

And then of course there´s this John Cage organ work, "as slow as possible", written to last 639 years ...
- "_can´t wait to hear it_", erm.


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)

all movements of beethoven's symphony 9 make up about 1 hr 20.

there is an organ piece that lasts for 3 months or something. the composer said to play it as slow as possible.


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## Toddlertoddy (Sep 17, 2011)

I think you're talking about John Cage's Organ2, which actually takes 639 years to perform. It's another one of his pieces of crap.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

D***, must have forgotten to switch off _Invisibility Mode_. Happends quite often, when I come think of it.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Toddlertoddy said:


> I think you're talking about John Cage's Organ2, which actually takes 639 years to perform. It's another one of his pieces of crap.


One of my friends introduced me 'John Cage' a year ago but I found his pieces boring and very unattractive ... years to listen?! what a waste of time.

If I want to listen something very long I listen to Bruckner and Mahler symphonies or Wagner's in Operas.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

joen_cph said:


> Pettersson´s 9th symphony conducted Commissiona, a work in 1 movement, is 86 mins long, spread over 4 LP sides. It is decidedly slower than the widely known CPO recording with Francis, but it makes the music much more beautiful and less stressful. Highly recommended; I think there are some transfers on the web. But so far it hasn´t been on CD, I think.
> 
> Some Sorabji works/movements are probably longer.
> 
> ...





LordBlackudder said:


> all movements of beethoven's symphony 9 make up about 1 hr 20.
> 
> there is an organ piece that lasts for 3 months or something. the composer said to play it as slow as possible.





Toddlertoddy said:


> I think you're talking about John Cage's Organ2, which actually takes 639 years to perform. It's another one of his pieces of crap.


John Cage marked the tempo for _Organ[sup]2[/sup]/ASLSP_ "As Slow as Possible." He didn't say exactly how slow. Just as slow as possible. A typical performance lasts 20-70 minutes according to Wikipedia, but the current organ performance at a church in Halberstadt, Germany started in 2001 and is scheduled to run for 639 years.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_slow_as_possible


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I put Lulu all on one track, which comes in at 2:06:05


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## pollux (Nov 11, 2011)

elgars ghost said:


> I think mine is Feldman again - his single-movement 1st string quartet weighs in at a hefty 78:35 on my recording. Perhaps it could have been longer still had it not been for the time constraints of a single disc.


Feldman's monumental String Quartet No.2 is in one unbroken movement. The FLUX Quartet performance is complete, lasting a total of 6 hours 7 minutes and 7 seconds.

Available in 2 Editions: a 5-CD set OR complete and uninterrupted on 1-DVD

I bet that no one can beat that!

Note: in order to appreciate it in all its greatness, one must listen to it complete, without blinking. If you don't, you will be missing the sublime climax at 4:23:17! :lol:


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## Hausmusik (May 13, 2012)

These are some long tracks. The longest single track in my iTunes library right now (excluding podcasts) is Takemitsu's From me flows what you call Time at 36.01, followed closely by Lutoslawski's Third and some Mahler movements. The longest used to be Reich's _Music for 18 Musicians _but I don't currently have it on my computer.


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

The longest piece of continuous music I know (which is surely what we're talking about here, not the vagaries of record companies and their inability to track their products adequately) is Stockhausen's_ Outer space_ which clocks in at over 2.5 hours.

A three act opera running four hours doesn't count as four hours of continuous music in my book, since each act is a separate piece of music.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

pollux said:


> Feldman's monumental String Quartet No.2 is in one unbroken movement. The FLUX Quartet performance is complete, lasting a total of 6 hours 7 minutes and 7 seconds.
> 
> Available in 2 Editions: a 5-CD set OR complete and uninterrupted on 1-DVD
> 
> ...


Erm...thanks, but count me out... 

As for the Cage, should ASLSP be amended to ASLEEP?


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## Tero (Jun 2, 2012)

Longest pop song record is 69 minutes. I don't do pop songs past 7 minuts so I do not have a copy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_Glitch


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Jeremy Marchant said:


> The longest piece of continuous music I know (which is surely what we're talking about here, not the vagaries of record companies and their inability to track their products adequately) is Stockhausen's_ Outer space_ which clocks in at over 2.5 hours.
> 
> A three act opera running four hours doesn't count as four hours of continuous music in my book, since each act is a separate piece of music.


Das Rheingold typically runs at over 2.5 hours of continuous music in four scenes, meant to be played without breaks.

Wagner's other longest stretch is the Prologue + Act 1 of Gotterdammerung, which runs over 2 hours.

My longest track though (since the above are broken up), is Solti's Act 2 of Die Walkure, 1:33:02.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Here is Morton Feldman's "Crippled Symmetry" in one track @ 1 hr. 34min, 17 sec.





Another major beauty, as is his Piano and String Quartet.


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## Sequentia (Nov 23, 2011)

The second movement of Sorabji's Organ Symphony No. 2 lasts 4 1/2 hours (on the non-commercial recording I have). The finale of the Third is supposed to be about as long (maybe even longer), but it consists of several sections.


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