modern music for general audience

[soundtrk]

Hi Everyone, I'm new here. Great forum! Glad to have found such a gathering of fellow pianists.

I'm preparing a piece for a concert in a month. It's a "departmental concert" featuring various musicians belonging to the physics department at my university (I'm an engineering-physics major). As such, it will be a very diverse and eclectic collection of music of all sorts, from purely classical to jazz combos to folk instruments to experimental stuff (e.g. last year we had a string quartet play an arrangement of some rock music). Therefore the audience will be a general one with widely varying degrees of musical backgrounds and experience.

The piece I would like to play is Ginastera's Danzas Argentinas. I love the piece and would like to share the fun and excitement of it with the audience. However I have some reservations about playing such a "modern" piece, with unusual harmonies and rhythms, for a general audience. I like the piece because I've heard it and play it many times, am familiar with the harmony and can get at the meaning behind it all. However I fear that the audience would be too much shocked by the modern-ness to really appreciate the musical aspect.

Last year I played Fantaisie Impromptu and they totally loved it. This year I want to do something completely different.

What do you think? If you know this piece, do you think it has enough musical momentum and impact to let the story shine through despite the modern-ness? Have you ever had experience playing modern music for a general audience and what did you think of it?

[zerlina]

Absolutely! Go for it! In recent years, I've found that "lay members" of the audience find the modern pieces even more interesting. There's something in this type of music that speaks to them.

The Ginastera is definitely a crowd pleaser! I've played it myself. I wouldn't say it's the most profound work but the Spanish rhythms, the beautiful melody of the 2nd dance and the showmanship needed for the 3rd will definitely delight your audience. The piece is perfect for this occassion.

And Kudos to you for majoring in engineering AND still keeping up your piano studies.

Good Luck!

[anda]

danzas argentinas is a wonderful simple work (i mean simple to understand, for the audience, of course). go ahead, you can be sure they're gonna love it.