In looking at my shelves, I can see a lot of sheet music books I bought while we lived in Japan… I sort of forgot about that. And I got rid of a lot of music books when we moved from Japan back to the U.S… so I would probably have even more if I hadn’t don’t that culling back then.
Ahh, sweet addition! 
Choosing a recital piece, for me, is hit & miss. I get them from books, online sheet music sites, YouBoob, and so on. I try to pick pieces that are in my skill level range. Sometimes I miss that mark but the idea is to always be in my level or stretching just a little bit.
Recitals shouldn't be a contest of will between you and the music. It should be a performance showcasing your abilities as they are at the time. So, pick something you can play, and that you want to play, and play it.
I like to structure recitals around a theme! Often, that will start with a piece that I really want to include in the recital — from there, I figure out a theme and fill in the rest with a preference towards music I already know, so I don't end up with a program that's majority new music to me. Other than that, I like to have lots of contrast (eras, styles, moods, etc. vs. e.g. playing a whole Schubert sonata), and either end big or end sweet. Some examples:
Jr. recital many years ago: Eine Kleine Tanzmusik (dance-themed music)
Note: (this program was somewhat incomplete due to not being able to learn enough music in time lol, would have filled in some smaller e.g. Brahms/Schubert waltzes or Chopin mazurkas for additional contrast)
Half recital coming up: Works by French composers
Some other ideas I've had: "Heaven and Hell" (religious and demonic inspired music), "The Criminal Piano" (recital of all transcriptions/arrangements), "TheBoringPianist chases the American Dream" (American music), something nature-themed, etc.
"You're a smart kid. But your playing is terribly dull."
TheBoringPianist I like to structure recitals around a theme! Often, that will start with a piece that I really want to include in the recital — from there, I figure out a theme and fill in the rest with a preference towards music I already know, so I don't end up with a program that's majority new music to me. Other than that, I like to have lots of contrast (eras, styles, moods, etc. vs. e.g. playing a whole Schubert sonata), and either end big or end sweet.
Thanks for posting this! I’ve been trying to put pieces together that “got together,” as in, they sound nice played back to back… But that hasn’t been going very well. :/ I also have a series of pieces that all have “Sun” in the title, that might sound silly but I thought it would be nice to have a “Sun series.” However, that set of pieces played together would be too long for the recital next month, so I have put that on hold for another time.
But I really like the “end big or end sweet” and as it happens, that helps me assess my options (pieces that will be playable by end of April) in a different way. So maybe I’ll pick the main piece and then choose the first piece based on that.
My lesson is Wednesday, this is the first lesson after two weeks off because of my business trip and the school’s spring break, so I plan to have a few different options ready to discuss with my teacher and then decide (well, re-decide, since I had already decided!)
This video from Tonebase about Vikingur Olafsson has an interesting segment on programming. In this case for an album, but it applies to recitals as well:
Oh, thanks, I’ll check this out. 
ShiroKuro How do you choose your pieces?
Just the other day, my teacher praised me for finding very different pieces to practise. I prefer playing calm, melodious pieces, but actually, if I only would play calm melodious pieces, I would probably get bored. I try to make sure that regularly play a baroque piece - but I can't do more than one at the time. I have just started with a new piece called Anger - and I am quite surprised at how cheerful it makes me to play those unusual tones.
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... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
Yes! From Emma-Lou Diemer. With strange harmonics, E major and B diminished on top of each other.
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... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
Yes! I don't think that I will be able to play it that fast though.
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... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
By the way, to get back to the original reason i posted this thread, I had my lesson yesterday and my teacher agreed with my new selection for the recital, so that was good!
