Help! Need some suggestions!

[NetherMagic]

Okay, in one week (this coming Saturday), I'm gonna be playing at a dinner.  I'm getting more information later from the person who asked me to play at some special dinner of hers but anyway to prepare for it I just some good, not too hard but still nice sounding pieces that would be suitable for a kinda high-class feeling mixture of dinner and party.

Okay the kind of music I want is like those soft, background ones we sometimes hear at fancy restaurants, you know its like classy feeling, just fuses perfectly with the background.  Any suggestions would be excellent!!! Thanks so much!

[tph]

Hey NetherMagic,

I don't know what kind of repertoire you've got, or how much you need, but presuming you need to learn this stuff on the fly, here's some stuff which might suit your needs:

1. Ravel "Pavane pour infante défunte"
2. Bach Prelude no.1, WTC I (or any other quick preludes you can learn like no. 13, can't remember which book)
3. Chopin Nocturne Op. 9,no.2 (or any other sweet-sounding one, maybe C# minor, Op. posth.)
4. Bach Sarabande, or any other piece from Partita no. 1
5. Beethoven Moonlight (1st or 2nd mov't)
6. Beethoven Pathetique (2nd mov't)
7. Mozart Sonata K. 310 (2nd mov't)

Stuff along those lines I think will get you through.  Good luck!!

tph

[shas]

Beethoven Appassionata 2nd mouvment although the end isn't very conclusive because it's supose to leade in to the rest.
oh and Beethovens sonata in G major. I'll try and find out what number that is.

[Hmoll]

The obvious question I have is whether the person who asked you knows you will be playing classical and not "cocktail" music, and whether they want 100% classical, no classical, a mix, etc.

If all classical, some movements of Bach suites are good, slow movements, and even selected fast movements of Clementi, Mozart, Haydn. Chopin Op 25#1 is a great thing to play for that type of venue - of you know it.
Some lighter Schubert - Landler, Waltzes, Moments Musicals. Mendelssohn, etc.

Also, all the other suggestions people made are good.

Make sure there is enough contrast.

[eddie92099]

I usually find the books Debussy Piano Music, Chopin Nocturnes and Chopin Waltzes get me through this kind of event,
Ed

[NetherMagic]

nice thx for the suggestions everyone

Yes I was just thinking of sightreading most of the Chopin nocturnes on that day or just pick some easy pieces that sound good

Well the person just wants anything that sounds "good," and she says she wants it to be "classy."  You can imagine, the social class of the dinner must have a minimum level to include a piano performer right?  But I believe any kind of music is good.

[allchopin]

I have a feeling that the kind of music you are thinking of in the background (such as in movies) is jazz, not classical.  You wont hear classical music played as much because it is meant to be focused upon, and not just to be background music, like jazz many times is.  

Btw, you plan to sightread the nocturnes?  You must be an extremely proficient sightreader, because those are quite tough, and each and every one has some sort of fast run in it...

[NetherMagic]

allchopin no I'm thinking about classical, the kind that they play in really fancy restaurants (about whether such places exist anymore, I'm not sure)

And about sight-reading the nocturnes, well I don't mean playing them raw, because I have played many of Chopin's nocturnes before but forgotten them, so you know how it goes when you haven't played a piece for a long time and then you play it again and you can pick it back up really fast?  Yeah well most of them are like that for me.  

[eddie92099]

Nethermagic, I do exactly the same and am asked back so it seems to work!
Ed