Problem

[ayahav]

You have 5 days to make a 40-50 minute programme. You can use talking to fill up time - but things have to be interesting for a non-musical audience.

You have the following pieces ready -
Bach - P&F in f minor from WTC II
Chopin - Etudes 10.3 10.4
Schumann - Des Abends and Aufschwung from Fantasiestuecke Op. 12
Beethoven - Sonata op. 27/2
Scriabin - Album Leaf and Etude Op. 2 No. 1
Piazzolla - 7 minutes' worth of music....

What would you do?

[faulty_damper]

I'd sit down in front of the piano, realize I don't have sheet music for any of those pieces you've just mentioned except for Beethoven's Op.27-2, and call up a friend who can play all of them and ask him to take my place.

I don't know what I'd do.  Talk a lot.  Give the history behind each composer, discuss why it was composed, and then ask someone in the audience to play it.  Someone has to be able, right?

[Shagdac]

If I understand you post correctly, you already have the pieces required up to performance level. Since you are able to talk....it may be interesting to give some information about some of the pieces prior to playing them, or possibly the composers inspiration behind the piece.  You could even "connect" with the audience but interjecting your own thoughts on the piece or any particular problems you encountered while learning them.  Another thought is allowing the audience to ask you any questions they have regarding the repertoire, and allowing them to make comments.

Just some suggestions. Hope it helps.

Shag

[faulty_damper]

Yeah, some pieces, especially from composers such as Debussy and Satie, really require some background information to give the audience insight on what the piece is about.

Take Debussy and some of his preludes.  He was French and gave them afterthought titles to them so a translation into English would be Great!  Translating Footprints in the Snow and then playing it really lets the audience visualize the cold and the dreariness as the snow falls slowly.  If it were to be performed and no one except some French person knew the title, the music, er... sucks.  The title is mandatory.  Since Claudey wrote the title after the composition, the title should probably be mentioned after the piece is performed for that "Ah, I get it, it makes sense" factor.

But about non-musical audience:
Do play the "Moonlight" sonata completely.  Telling them that there are 3 movements in this sonata and that they are rarely heard by the non-musical audience.  And of course introduce them to why it was titled, or rather nicknamed, this way.  Make it controversial;  people like controversy.

About Bach and the P&F in F-:  mention that the prelude and fuge were meant to be played in tandem.  Also mention that the P&Fs were written to teach his sons how to play the keyboard.

Yeah, like this.  This is how I'd do it.  Background of composers is also important.  For example, "Did you know that Freddy Chopin was dating a person named George?  No, he wasn't gay.  George was the pen name of a woman he was having an affair with."

Blah blah blah.  I don't know much about Piazzola or Scribin.  That takes a couple of hours of heavy Googling to find out, though.

[JeffL]

What I would do would be to grab hold of something fairly easy, but still appealing and musically worthwhile, such as Tchaikovsky's Album for the Young and learn several numbers from it in order to fill the required time-allotment. No doubt I'd use the score - my edition requires no page-turns!
If you can't manage this then the only option left is to talk, talk, talk.

[ayahav]

thank you for all your help, but it's sorted now.
I'll talk about the composers' lives, and play the pieces. Most of them are 95% up to performance level, and since the audience is non-musical, that's enough (I hate to play things that aren't 110% perfect, but sometimes one gets pushed into a corner...)

[krenske]

deja vu...
maybe it could be interesting to dress up as someone and do a poetry reading before each piece. You could invite a guest soloist to help you, or a guest soprano to take up the entire programme hehehe

[ahmedito]

or you could learn to juggle