If performing a solo recital of several shorter works, is it all right to ask audience members not to clap in between pieces, and only when the performer enters/exits?

I've never heard of that being done or experienced it myself. It's usually up to the pianist to signal the audience by his movements at the end of a piece that he'd prefer no applause. Of course, the signalling is not always successful.

Are you the one giving the recital? If so, why do you want no applause?

I've frequently heard that request made of the audience either by the performer or by an announcer at the beginning of the program.

It's often a question of the performer's wish of setting a mood for the group of related pieces, a mood that s/he doesn't want broken by applause.

Regards,

I personally see no problem with asking the audience to
"Please hold their applause until all of the selections have been played."

I wouldn't make a big deal out of whether they applaud when the performer walks on or off the stage...as long as they applaud at the end when the performer takes a bow.

Me too, quite often...

You can do that with your gestures. If you have a continuous mindset throughout there should be no problem.

In my recital, I kept my hands on the keys after the movements of the Beethoven sonata, so the audience knew not to clap (I did take them off and begin to stand up after the final movement, of course). Also, between the Alkan Etude and Chopin Ballade, I didn't have a pause for applause (lol rhyme) because the Etude ended slowly and the Ballade started slowly.

Did you finish standing up?

Not unusual I think.
Years ago I once heard that in some places it's usual to wave instead of clap.


IMHO clapping is detrimental to the afterfeel of a piece and it should not be done. Compare it to the a good movie and imagine how that would change if people would clap after the movie...

I heard some very enthousiastic applause after the 1st (!) movement of Prok.3 in the QEC, in that case the candidate would have probabely thought: I'm on the right track here, let's go! (he didn't win, he was from Korea...)