Short pieces?

[LeMartinPecheur]

Nothing as short as 15" in the Sony Boulez Complete Works box that I could spot.
Some songs or movements within cycles/works are very short (for example, the second in the Op 3 Five songs clocks in at 33"), but I'm not sure that they should count compared to stand-alone pieces.

Thanks, Pulcie: I was thinking he'd make a much better bid than that I can put forward another Kurtag contender: number 8 of the Kafka-Fragmente op. 24, clocks in at 14 secs. Perhaps this gets disqualified as being part of a cycle, but can you really have a cycle of fragments?

Of course, before we declare the ultimate winner we should probably do some micro-measurement of any silences at beginnings and ends of tracks!

[gradus]

I think Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne also from Dichterliebe is the shortest Schumann song at about 30 secs

Ah yes, slipped my mind.

[Pulcinella]

Thanks, Pulcie: I was thinking he'd make a much better bid than that I can put forward another Kurtag contender: number 8 of the Kafka-Fragmente op. 24, clocks in at 14 secs. Perhaps this gets disqualified as being part of a cycle, but can you really have a cycle of fragments?

Of course, before we declare the ultimate winner we should probably do some micro-measurement of any silences at beginnings and ends of tracks!

We should probably consider any reverberation effects in the recording too.
How long would the example Richard mentioned (appear to) last if performed in St Paul's or Liverpool Cathedral, I wonder.

[ahinton]

Whilst Sorabji is hardly the first composer whose name comes to mind when considering short pieces, he seemed quite to enjoy writing them from time to time nevertheless. There are, for example, three sets of Frammenti Aforistici for piano - one of 104, one of 20 and one of 4, which in total play for only around three quarters of an hour; then there's two pieces entitled Fragment from the 1920s that are only around a couple of minutes each, a brief set of variations on Åse's Death from Grieg's Peer Gynt incidental music from the 1970s which plays for about 45 seconds, an early song, Arabesque, of a similar duration and quite a few of his 100 Trasncendental Studies for piano (1940-44) play for between 1 and 3 minutes apiece.

[Serial_Apologist]

There used to be a youtube of the composer David Bedford giving an a capella rendition of Wagner's "Ring" cycle in just one minute. Sadly this has now disappeared. However, it is available at the top of this link as a click.

http://www.morgan-fisher.com/miniatures/2011/03/03/m1-11-david-bedford/

[Dave2002]

This thread has so far shown that there are some very viable pieces which are short, though some are very short indeed. Composers who are aiming to write short pieces might want to aim at something between 1 and 2 minutes. Sometimes pieces outstay their welcome after a couple of minutes.

It's possible that some composers are like writers. Some writers have great difficulty writing anything, yet when they start to write they write huge amounts of text, which then has to be pruned down drastically to be useful. I have seen this quite a few times, though it does depend on who is doing the writing. Perhaps music composers sometimes have similar "problems".

There is perhaps nothing wrong with writing short pieces.

[gurnemanz]

In my mind because I mentioned it on the current Stravinsky thread: I bought the LP, Stravinsky Conducts Favorite Short Pieces, in the 60s. A highly enjoyable selection which starts off with a 49 second Greeting Prelude written in 1955 for Pierre Monteux's eightieth birthday.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8110877--stravinsky-conducts-favorite-short-pieces

[cloughie]

In my mind because I mentioned it on the current Stravinsky thread: I bought the LP, Stravinsky Conducts Favorite Short Pieces, in the 60s. A highly enjoyable selection which starts off with a 49 second Greeting Prelude written in 1955 for Pierre Monteux's eightieth birthday.
https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...e-short-pieces

Probably actually slightly longer but pieces such as Fireworks and Circus Polka are disappointing pieces as they just seem to be getting going when they end!

[Jonathan]

Plenty of short, late piano works by Liszt, plus a few album leaves (in the Hyperion set) that last less than half a minute.