Repertoire › Dance macabre, S.555, R.240 › What to play next
What to play after Dance macabre, S.555, R.240 ?
Franz Liszt · difficulty 74/100

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
Novelletten, op. 21
Robert Schumann
78/100 +4 pts 7-14 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Rondo à la Mazur in F major, op. 5
Frédéric Chopin
80/100 +6 pts 7-14 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Staccato — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Excelsior! Preludio zu dem Glocken des Strassburger Münsters, for organ, S.666
Franz Liszt
80/100 +6 pts 8-16 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
La Notte, S.602
Franz Liszt
81/100 +7 pts 8-16 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Legato — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
Orpheus, symphonic poem, S.672a
Franz Liszt
85/100 +11 pts 16-32 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Grande pièce symphonique in F sharp minor, op. 17, M.29
César Franck
85/100 +11 pts 16-32 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). The skill that will carry the work: Polyrhythmie 2 contre 3 — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Balanced
Hexameron, S.392, R.131
Franz Liszt
86/100 +12 pts 16-32 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Doubles notes — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Concert Etudes on Caprices by Paganini, op. 10
Robert Schumann
84/100 +10 pts 16-32 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Passages rapides — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

Challenge
Piano Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor, op. 36
Sergei Rachmaninoff
91/100 +17 pts 36-72 weeks
partial transfer high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Connaissance des formes and Passages rapides — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Challenge
Wanderer Fantasy, S.366
Franz Liszt
90/100 +16 pts 36-72 weeks
close skills high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Passages rapides and Ornements romantiques — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
3 Apparitions, S.155
Franz Liszt
75/100 +1 pts 5-8 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Ornements romantiques — ornaments must be secure before the piece goes up to tempo, otherwise they break the line instead of decorating it.
Same level
Aprés une lecture du Dante I, fantasia quasi sonata, S.158c
Franz Liszt
75/100 +1 pts 5-8 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Connaissance des formes — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level
Piano Sonata no. 14 in C sharp minor, op. 27 no. 2, "Moonlight"
Ludwig van Beethoven
73/100 -1 pts 5-8 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Trilles and Balance mains — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
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.