Shortening recital program

By Vidas Pinkevicius (get free updates of new posts here)​​​​​

Today I went to practice to church for my upcomming December 17 Christmas organ music recital "In dulci jubilo".

It was the first time I played it entirely non-stop and timed it.

92 minutes.

It's too long, isn't it? Unless the music demands it, at St. John's we usually aim for about 50 minutes of non-stop music. With registration changes it would be about an hour.

​So I will have to shorten the program quite a bit.

Here's how I will decide:

I will listen to my gut feeling. I will look into my heart and I'll know what to play.

Not very helpful, isn't it? How to translate it into normal language?

Well, there are 3 kinds of pieces on my program so far:

1. Music I like.
2. Music I feel I have an obligation to play.
3. Music I can't live without.

So for this recital I will most definitely play pieces from category No. 3, and a little of No. 2 and probably nothing from No. 3 (if it's enough).

​This way my program gets shortened without sacrificing my integrity.

How do you decide what pieces to keep and what to leave out in your recital program?