'Cool' & classical

[Rach3]

I think it would be useful to list things which a non-musical audience would find 'cool' (i.e., the kind of audience which don't think five-part fugues are cool). Probably virtuosic stuff, low on the 'pathos', 'sturm und drang', high on speed and cheap technical show-off tricks, most likely in minor-key. No adagios. Things that might sound vaguely like jazz or rock, while still being real music. (excuse my blatant bias)

Examples of 'cool' music (tongue in cheek) could be:
Prokofiev sonata no. 6, finale
Prokofiev sonata no. 7, finale
Rachmaninoff concerto no. 2, finale
Liszt - Mephisto waltz, and the most blatantly virtuosic stuff

This isn't necessarily a list of your favorite music - just stuff which impresses and entertains idiots in a concise (<12min) boredom-resistant way.

[Rach3]

More ideas:

Rachmaninoff, g-minor prelude
Horowitz-Bizet, Carmen Fantasy
Ravel, Scarbo from Gaspard de la Nuit

[frederic]

How about
Ravel Concerto 3rd movement, even 1st movement perhaps
Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin Concerto, the whole thing is cool
Shostakovich 2nd Concerto
Rite of Spring HAHAHA 

[greyrune]

They usually like it if you play things they know, like fur elise, rondo alla turk the big tunes, for a decent show off well known piece i heard a transcription of the march from The nutcracker, that and dance of the sugar plum fairy went down very well.  As for flashy virtuosic peices yeah the above are probably the best, i'd add FI in there, skip the slow part, even if it isn't insanely hard it'd make a good impression i think.

[rc]

Greyrune's right - people are more impressed to hear something they recognise than anything fast and dazzling. If they know you can play Pachelbel's canon you'll never hear the end of it, though most people don't know what it's called... I've heard it called 'the grad song', 'the birthday song' and some sort of 'cake song'

??

If you're playing for the same audience (friends, family) you can get them familiar with anything if it's played well, then you can get requests for the piece that goes "dun dun dun dun duuuun!".

As far as that goes, so long as it's got a hook, that catchy piece of melody that loops in a listeners head. I'd say there's also a minor key preference.

[pianote]

anything that is fast- bach's solfeg. is as impressive as other much harder fast songs.
make a song with tons of arpeggios and glissandos.

loud & fast. sad but true.

[steinwayguy]

The too-widely-popular-on-this-forum Liszt Second Hungarian Rhapsody certainly is amongst them.

Nice job with mentioning the Prokofiev.

The Tchaikovsky piano concerti all have really cool "groove" sections.

[pianonut]

after i played most of what i want to play for my recital, my 10 year old nephew said 'can you play a fugue for me?'  that kid is too smart.