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What to play after Sonata for Solo Cello ?
György Ligeti · difficulty 86/100

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
Suite D major BWV 1012
Eugene Ysaÿe
90/100 +4 pts 9-18 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus and Style baroque — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Gentle
Tout un monde lointain, concerto for cello and orchestra
Henri Dutilleux
90/100 +4 pts 9-18 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). The skill that will carry the work: Analyse harmonique — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Gentle
Nomos Alpha, for solo cello
Iannis Xenakis
92/100 +6 pts 9-18 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Harmoniques (violoncelle) and Analyse harmonique — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Gentle
Violoncello Sonata d minor
Claude Debussy
92/100 +6 pts 9-18 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus and Analyse harmonique — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Gentle
Cello Concerto in B minor, op. 104
Antonín Dvořák
92/100 +6 pts 9-18 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Endurance and Jeu d'ensemble — 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. 8
Zoltán Kodály
95/100 +9 pts 18-36 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Style moderne et contemporain and Doubles notes — 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.

No suggestion yet.

Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Cello Suite no. 6 in D major, BWV.1012
Johann Sebastian Bach
85/100 -1 pts 6-9 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Lecture clé d'ut et de sol and Style baroque — reading the score is itself an obstacle before technique: budget time for plain reading.
Same level
Cello Concerto no. 2 in D major, Hob.VII:2
Franz Joseph Haydn
85/100 -1 pts 6-9 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Style classique and Connaissance des formes — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Same level
Suites G major, d minor, a minor op. 131c
Max Reger
84/100 -2 pts 6-9 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Polyphonie à deux voix and Style baroque — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
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.