Romuald Koperski has played the piano non-stop for 103 hours and 8 seconds, setting a new Guinness world record in the longest piano recital.

The previous record, held by Charkles Brunner of Hungary, was 101 hours and 7 minutes.

Fifty four year-old Koperski finished the exploit in excellent shape at the weekend, joking that he could go on playing for weeks on end if he did not have to return the instrument to its owner.

“There is no suffering that could be compared to a lack of sleep,” he said.

He performed his feat in a shopping mall in Gdansk. His repertoire of sixty six pieces has been approved by the Chapter of the Guinness Book of Records. According to the rules, the repertoire included popular works of classical music, hits of film music and jazz standards. Improvisation was not permitted. The pianist could repeat a piece no sooner than after four hours. He was entitled to a five-minute rest per one hour of playing.

A video documentation of the entire recital will now be sent to London.

In addition to being a musician, Romuald Koperski has numerous travel exploits to his credit. In 1998 he single-handly covered 4, 500 km along the Lena River in a rubber pontoon. He has organized and participated in three trans-Siberian automobile expeditions and took part in the Zurich-New York car expedition in 1994. (mk)