Que jouer après Ghirlarzana, for solo cello ?

Choose your level of commitment: consolidate, move up a tier or prepare a challenge. The top-ranked cards combine difficulty, risk, shared skills and confidence.

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Gentle step

The safest next step.

Gentle

Cello Suite no. 1, op. 72: 1. Fuga. Andante moderato

Benjamin Britten

66/100 +5 pts 6-12 weeks

close skills low risk to confirm

A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Style baroque and Ornements baroque — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.

Gentle

Le grand tango, for cello and piano

Astor Piazzolla

67/100 +6 pts 6-12 weeks

partial transfer low risk to confirm

A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Vibrato (violoncelle) — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.

Gentle

Cello Sonata, H.20

Arthur Honegger

67/100 +6 pts 6-12 weeks

partial transfer low risk to confirm

A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet (violoncelle) and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.

Gentle

Cello Suite no. 1, op. 72: 2. Lamento. Lento rubato

Benjamin Britten

65/100 +3 pts 6-12 weeks

close skills low risk to confirm

A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Style baroque and Ornements baroque — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.

Gentle

Meditation Hébraïque, for cello and piano

Ernest Bloch

68/100 +7 pts 6-12 weeks

partial transfer low risk to confirm

A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet (violoncelle) and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.

Balanced step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced

Sonata for solo cello, op. 101

Vagn Holmboe

72/100 +11 pts 14-28 weeks

close skills moderate risk to confirm

A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet (violoncelle) and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.

Balanced

Sonata for solo cello, op. 101: II. Fugare. Allegro risoluto

Vagn Holmboe

72/100 +10 pts 14-28 weeks

close skills moderate risk to confirm

Balanced

Tema 'Sacher,' for solo cello

Benjamin Britten

71/100 +10 pts 14-28 weeks

close skills moderate risk to confirm

A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet (violoncelle) and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.

Balanced

Cello Concerto

Jacques Ibert

75/100 +14 pts 14-28 weeks

partial transfer moderate risk to confirm

A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Passages rapides — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.

Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

Challenge

Cello Sonata, op. 40

Dmitri Shostakovich

79/100 +18 pts 28-56 weeks

partial transfer high risk to confirm

An ambitious leap into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Connaissance des formes and Legato d'archet (violoncelle) — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.

Challenge

Cello Sonata in C major, op. 119

Sergei Prokofiev

77/100 +16 pts 28-56 weeks

partial transfer high risk to confirm

Challenge

Cello Sonata in C major, op. 65

Benjamin Britten

77/100 +16 pts 28-56 weeks

partial transfer high risk to confirm

Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level

Cello Sonata in B flat major, op. 71

Dmitry Kabalevsky

59/100 -2 pts 4-6 weeks

partial transfer low risk to confirm

Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Legato d'archet (violoncelle) and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.

Same level

Legend, for cello and piano

Arnold Bax

59/100 -2 pts 4-6 weeks

partial transfer low risk to confirm

Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Legato d'archet (violoncelle) and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.

Same level

Cello Sonata, op. 11, no. 3 (second version): II. Lansam-sehr Lebhaft

Paul Hindemith

59/100 -3 pts 4-6 weeks

partial transfer low risk to confirm

Progressions computed from difficulty, skill overlap and style between works. A What do we play next? recommendation should remain a pedagogical starting point, not an automatic prescription.