# Classical Pieces



## lrn24gve (Feb 3, 2009)

I have a quite large ensemble group, however I don't know what pieces to play. We play for nursing homes. The main problem for us, though, is our instrumentation. We have bass, violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, and piano. I can't seem to find any pieces that will incorporate our instruments without needing some additional musicians (ex. trumpet player). I was wondering if anybody knew any pieces that we could play. Even a piece that doesn't incorporate all of the instruments (as long as it's not strictly strings) would be nice.

Just as a note, we're not professional players and we're playing for fun. So we probably can't play complicated pieces.


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## PostMinimalist (May 14, 2008)

If you don't mind droping the winds for a piece, you could play some of Schubert's Trout Quintet. I get the feeling, just looking at the line up you have, that there might be some French music from the first half of the 20th Century by the likes of Milhaud, Auric, Poulenc, Ibert etc. and others, that you might attempt. You could give your gigs some variety by playing in smaller groups for one or two pieces at a time. A movement from a Mozart flute trio followed by a movement form a clarinet sonata for example or, if your bass player is up to it a bit of Bottesini. If you only find one piece with the whole group on stage at once this would make a nice 'finale' to your program.

A lot of the time programing depends more on the level of the players involved than on the various combinations you can use. If you have a star flute player for example you could build the program around him or her. If the strings are good then start with trios or piano trios (there absolutely tons of these from Haydn right up to very modern composers). You get the idea.

Solos are also very good 'show stoppers'; if your flautist can bring off 'Syrinx' by Debussy this can break the gig up nicely. Also look for a broad selection of historical styles. Not too much serious stuff though for hospitals and lots of 'good tunes' for Old folks homes. I was involved in organising some gigs like this when I was at college and one thing that goes down well in all these places is a good talking rapport with the audience. Don't treat this like a classical gig, introduce the players, talk about the music and the instruments and try to get a few laughs out of them too!

Good luck and tell us how you get on!
FC


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