9 of the Longest Pieces Of Classical Music
Despite living in an age where attention spans are being questioned and criticised due to the likes of technology and social media, performances of lengthy works still find their way into concert programmes around the world.
In light of Satie’s Vexations at the Southbank Centre in April 2025 (and without getting too fixated on parameters as to what constitutes the longest), here is a mind-boggling selection of some of the longest pieces of classical music - some of which are still being performed as you read this!
Organ2/ASLSP, ‘As Slow as Possible’
John Cage (1987)
Duration: 639 years
YouTube / Spotify
Originally written for organ or piano, a performance usually lasts between 20-70 minutes, however its 21st Century fame comes from a particular performance in St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt. Commencing in 2001, the piece is scheduled to conclude in 2640, making it the longest running non-computerised piece currently being performed. Consisting of only eight pages of music, the most recent note was played on 5th February 2024 with the next note to play on 5th August 2026!
Vexations
Erik Satie (1893-94)
Duration: 18 hours
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One of classical music’s most deceptive scores, the single page equates to a total of 16-20 hours of continuous playing. With no specificity of instrument given, the piece is inscribed with “In order to play the motif 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities." This has been interpreted by scholars as an instruction however, rather amusingly, this may have not been Satie’s original intention!
“At this, Levit’s first ever live performance of the work, you can bear witness to part or all of this feat of endurance, including an introduction from Marina Abramović at 10am.
This is a long-durational performance. Tickets are available for both the entire duration of the event, and for one-hour slots. The latest slot available for pre-booking is 11pm. At 10am, Marina Abramović delivers an introduction to the performance.
Ticket holders for the full duration are allocated prime seats in the auditorium and can exit and re-enter at any time during the performance.”
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Richard Wagner (1876)*
Duration: 15 hours
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More commonly referred to as the Ring Cycle, Wagner’s cycle of four epic music dramas (Das Rheingold/The Rhinegold, Die Walküre/The Valkyrie, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung/ Twilight of the Gods) encompass characters from Germanic heroic legend. Whilst they are performed individually, he intended for them to be performed sequentially. A full performance of the cycle takes place over four nights at the opera, with a total playing time equating to roughly 15 hours of music.
*Premiere as a cycle - individual opera premiere dates precede 1876
Licht "Die sieben Tage der Woche"
Karlheinz Stockhausen (2003)
Duration: 29 hours
YouTube
Translating to, Light “The Seven Days of the Week,” it is a cycle of seven operas - one for each day of the week. Described by the composer as an "eternal spiral,” performing such a work is a challenge not only due to its length, but also due to its changing requirements. For example, in many cases each scene is designed for a different configuration of musicians, ranging from scenes written for a cappella choir, to orchestra with synthesiser, to string quartet playing from helicopters above the concert hall. As such, arrangements and selections of scenes are typically programmed separately.
The History of Photography in Sound
Michael Finnissy (1996)
Duration: 5 hours 30 minutes
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This highly challenging composition, with its extremes in dynamic and textural range, imaginative style and complex articulations is positively exhausting for both performer and audience. Regarded as an accessible piano piece by Finnissy’s admirers in comparison to his other works, the piece draws inspiration from tonal sources, folk music as well as music from Africa and the Afro-American spirituals.
The Veil of the Temple
John Tavener (2002)
Duration: 8 hours
YouTube / Spotify (3 hour versions)
Tavener’s encompassing work attempts to remove the veils that mask the basic truths of all authentic religions. Whilst mainly of a Christian focus, it incorporates a variety of beliefs across a 850-page score. It was commissioned for the Temple Church in London and is split into 8 cycles. As described by Hyperion Records, “The purpose of The Veil is to awaken, through music, some realisation of what is meant by man’s being created in the Divine Image.”
As part of Edinburgh International Festival’s ‘Beanbag Concert Series’, experience an unforgettable day-to-night concert, inviting introspection and the search for deeper truths. Eight hours. 250 singers. One monumental choral work. This is only the second time it has ever been performed in the UK.
In a rare moment of vocal communion, the Monteverdi Choir joins the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and National Youth Choir of Scotland with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Conducted by Sofi Jeannin, one of the most respected choral specialists today, discover Tavener’s ‘supreme achievement of [his] life’ as it was originally intended: in all its glory.
This performance runs for eight hours, feel free to come and go as you need.
Opus clavicembalisticum
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1930)
Duration: 5 hours
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Arguably some of Sorabji’s most famous work (alongside his 9 hour Organ Symphony and 100 Transcendental Etudes), this one-movement piano work was the longest non-repetitive piano composition ever published at the time of its completion. Along with its length, it is also one of the most technically demanding pieces of music due to its rhythmic complexity, with the composer himself describing the final pages as, “cataclysmic and… grinds like the mills of God.” Opus clavicembalisticum has twelve movements of hugely varying magnitudes: from a three-minute-long cadenza to an hour-long interlude, containing a toccata, adagio, and passacaglia (with 81 variations).
Symphony No. 1 “The Gothic”
Havergal Brian (1919-27)
Duration: 110 minutes
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It is easy to associate ‘longest symphony’ with Mahler however Brian’s Gothic Symphony surpasses Mahler’s 3rd in length. Although there are longer symphonies in the wider symphonic repertoire, Brian’s is programmed just as regularly. Its Gothic element stems from the vision of the Gothic age and humanity’s artistic and intellectual advances - particularly in its architecture of great European cathedrals. The scale of the choral finale, which took several years to complete, appears to showcase this grandeur in scale. Staggeringly, there are 54 staves to a page and it was dedicated to Richard Strauss.
String Quartet No. 2
Morton Feldman (1983)
Duration: 6 hours
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The longest quartet in the string quartet repertoire, it is a quiet, subtly alternating piece which has been described as becoming part of the environment in which it is listened to or performed. The American composer Christian Wulff, a companion of Feldman’s, opines that, like other unusually long pieces of his, Feldman’s Second String Quartet is a provocation against musical institutions; none of the works could fit into any conventional concert situation - the pieces challenge such situations and, indirectly, the social system they represent.
Matthew Elderton-Lewis a composer and conductor based in Essex/London. Having studied at Royal Holloway, University of London for a Master of Music as well as a Bachelor of Music Composition from London College of Music, University of West London, he has since gone on to work with Britten Sinfonia, PoppyHarp Composer Project and score award-winning short films such as, ‘The Suicide’ (2025). Not being from a musical background, Matthew is determined to fight the ‘classical music’ stigma, offering a hand of reassurance to audiences who would otherwise be hesitant to discover new music.
