Aaron -

Have you ever played the Solfegietto by C.P.E. Bach???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czQIH6RP1EY&feature=related

Not as difficult as it sounds - and fun to play !!

I have tried playing this, the first page (and the second page) are very manageable, but the rest seems to get a bit more difficult though the easier parts repeat throughout. I managed to play through most parts of it (very slowly)

I am not very good at determining whether some pieces of music are too difficult for me or whether it just something that will improve with practice..

Speaking of Bach, there is this one:

http://www.waltercosand.com/CosandScores/Composers%20A-D/Bach,%20J.%20S./Transcriptions/Bach-Hill__Toccata%2526Fugue_BWV565.pdf

A nice piano transcription of the famous Bach toccata (& fugue) in Dmi. Familiar, sounds impressive and not as hard as it sounds. Also a lot of fun to play on a digital piano with a pipe organ voice.

Stanza,
Thank you for this nice suggestion.

I actually have a very old electric organ upstairs that my mother bought way back when she was a teenager in the 70s.. though unfortunately it is in need of repair as it makes some dodgy noises.. I'm always afraid to switch it on in case it explodes or something

Trust me, they do. You could play Chopin's Piano Sonata or Rach's 3rd and they wouldn't give a flying hoot. The second you play something they recognize (i.e Fur Elise, Clair De Lune) they love it. In fact, you're lucky for them to find them exciting, most none Classical Music Lovers are only impressed if you can play a current Mainstream Hit (Lady Gaga, Rihanna etc).

I played Grieg's Wedding Day at Troldhaugen a billion years ago. I was probably 15 and I'd guess I was playing grade 7 or 8 at that time. It's really not that hard if you are comfortable playing alternating LH/RH notes. (I learned that technique with this piece).

There are a lot of pieces that rely on beautiful playing, not technique, to impress.

There are several quite easy Chopin mazurkas that are very expressive.
I've gone through IMSLP looking for things like lullabies and elegies, other slow forms, and have found some beautiful pieces.
Grieg's Holborne Suite has several nice movements; the sarabande is beautiful and easy.
As others have said, Joplin is a sure crowd-pleaser, but you do have to get it memorized.

Good luck.

Actually its "Holberg" not "Holborne" - and, yes, it is quite nice.

Well, I would suggest:
Grieg: March of the Trolls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfbw2Nnf3dY
Very, very manageable, and sounds great. Very impressive when played well.
Chopin: Prelude No. 3 in G
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZAt3cqDyJ4
A little more difficult, but again manageable, the left hand makes great practice as it requires fast playing, but really very east broken down. Its just a pity this piece is so short...
Debussy: Le Petit Negre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEM0t3vlGjQ
Ah, such a cute piece of music, and very impressive when well played. Technically a cinch, I think, it just relies on a playful interpretation.
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVqaf56b3jY
My own favorite Hungarian Rhapsody, and by a country mile one of the, it not THE easiest, though still rather challenging, without being too difficult. Very pretty piece of music, and the ending always raises the roof.


EDIT: Just noticed the OP said Grade 6, misread. That HR8 is far too difficult in that case.

I'm wondering whether people remember what the actual point of the suggestions was...

Whenever I play at my cousin's house, it seems her son always wants to play a duet. And by a duet I mean he sits on the bench next to me smacking random keys. Gotta love two year-olds haha

Nobody has yet mentioned Debussy's Dr Gradus ad Parnassus from Children's Corner. It's fantastic, impressive, and easy.

Also,

The first movement from Haydn Piano Sonata No.46.
Beethoven Sonata Op. 10 No. 5.
Andante Favori
Chopin Op. 25 No.1 is always winning. It's not too hard. Sure sounds like it is, though.

Perhaps MacDowell Op.39? Some are easier than others. Showy and manageable for intermediate players.

I think almost anything memorized tends to impress people. For something super-easy but lovely, there's the first piece I ever memorized, Beethoven's little La Marmotte. It's also super-short--nice for if people want to hear you play but don't really want to listen for very long. This is in "The Joy of Beethoven" book, a collection that also has Für Elise and some other nice manageable pieces, up to intermediate. And I think only piano insiders (maybe people who've heard too many student recitals?) might be jaded with Fur Elise, others will like to hear it, including folks like me who've played it themselves.

Another that occurs to me if you want something fast is the Wild Rider from Schumann's Kinderszenen.

Great point. I think it's true, when it comes to non-musician audiences -- and in fact, even sometimes musician audiences, especially if they're musicians who have some trouble memorizing.

I used to memorize every single piece I played... until I got my first job. Now, I just don't have the time. It's pretty frustrating now to open a book and play for people and have them fairly obviously shrug their shoulders and walk off. If I had played the same piece from memory twice as fast and missed every other note they would have been clapping up and down like a wind-up monkey.

Clayton -

Then I suppose the solution is to learn to 'fake it' when playing on sight. I do a fair bit of accompanying, and that's what I have to do. By 'fake it' I mean accepting a fair number of errors which, hopefully, aren't too obvious, missing out notes that you can't get a finger on to in time, and learning how to improvise a bit when you completely lose the thread.

I've been playing the piano for 30-odd years, but I only started learning to sight-read a few years ago, when I realized that my ageing memory was no longer at all reliable. If you have to play unfamiliar music at short notice, I think that the ability to fake it is pretty helpful.

As to the original question, if you're looking for pieces at around grade 6 which punch above their weight, I'd recommend the following:

Granados -- Valse Poetico no. 6
Albeniz -- Tango (middle section is a bit fiddly)
Liszt -- Consolation #1
Chopin -- Nocture in Eb (perhaps a bit harder than gr. 6)

Actually, you can buy huge anthologies of accessible pieces of around this standard, like the Hal Leonard "The Romantic Era" which has a hundred-odd pieces in.

I would rather advice to play Chopin Prelude No. 4 - it is very easy and very touching...

Beethoven 14th Sonata 1st part

Waltz in E-moll Griboedov:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXwg0NeXyCw
(not in such a hurry up tempo though of course)

But the most impressive one is
J. S. Bach - Prelude and Fugue n.2 in C Minor BWV 847 (WTC I)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvmCUx7NdLg

It has eternity in it and is rather easy to play.
I play it and enjoy it and feel the time itself in every sound of it! Try it and You will never regret!

Also very romantic but not hard to play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ClDFmFmr0k

Scriabin Etude Op.8 No.12

Also very easy and touching the heart is Mozart Fantasia in D Minor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8P7-1IzhwU

Is this a joke?

Why do you think it is a joke?

Also very touching and easy to play:

Scriabin Preludes Op.11 - No.12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnv8VbuWNdE

and

Scriabin Preludes Op.11 - No.10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R4P3VHGego

Are you joking now?

But seriously: The Scriabin D# minor Etude is NOT "easy." It's very, very hard. So I wasn't surprised at the post that wondered if you were serious.

P.S. I wouldn't say the Mozart D minor Fantasia is "very easy" either, nor any other Mozart. But I know that a lot of people seem to think he is, and at least on the Mozart I know what you mean. But about the Scriabin etude, I cannot imagine why you would say it's easy....

May be because for the one who falls in love with some piece of music and regards it as something sacred - from that moment and on there is nothing hard... as long as the dream to perform it is alive ;-)

Are you joking?

Learn what you love is a nice maxim for the musician, but it doesn't have much (if anything) to with pleasing a casual listener -- and I don't think it relates at all to the topic of listing 'impressive but not difficult piano pieces'.

If Scriabin's Op. 8 No. 12 belonged on that list, there would be no need for such a list. Everything in the entire repertoire would automatically fit the bill!

Ok! I answered with my heart, and heart is not always the good adviser.

Than I guess the answer is Prelude in C Major by J.S. Bach - easy and eternal, touching every soul...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KQW2YnCUrE

If there were a contest for the most easy and the most impressive at the same time it would definitely win!

Heller's Melodious Etude #15 (Op.45, No.15 "Warrior's song") is relatively easy, and it's loud and dramatic, which most people seem to think as impressive.

Good choice !!!

This is a new one to me - thanks for sharing it !!

Thank you!