"Flight of the Bumblebee" World Record

For many years, the world record for the fastest performance of Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" remained unchallenged. Jörg Wachsmuth, solo tubist with the Dresden Philharmonic, recently played the piece on a giant tuba in less than 54 seconds. The previous record for the fastest performance stood at 54.24 seconds, achieved by British violinist Ben Lee. Originally the piece was intended to last three minutes. Wachsmuth played the piece in 53.82 seconds. The particular challenge for Wachsmuth was that he wanted to break the record on a gigantic tuba. With a weight of 50 kilograms and a height of 2.05 meters, it's quite an epic instrument. With 20 meters of tubing, the tube length on it is twice as long as that of a normal tuba. The instrument is a custom design from makers in the Vogtland region. It was built in 2010 and is on display in the Museum of Music in Markneukirchen, Germany.