Repertoire › Livre du Saint-Sacrement, I/53 › What to play next
What to play after Livre du Saint-Sacrement, I/53 ?
Olivier Messiaen · difficulty 75/100

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
Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité, I/49
Olivier Messiaen
80/100 +5 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 and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Variations, op. 27
Anton Webern
80/100 +5 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: Connaissance des formes and Indépendance des mains — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Gentle
Piano Sonata no. 7 in B flat major, op. 83
Sergei Prokofiev
79/100 +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: Connaissance des formes and Style moderne et contemporain — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Gentle
Messe de la Pentecôte, I/36
Olivier Messiaen
78/100 +3 pts 7-14 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Analyse harmonique — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Balanced step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
Piano Sonata no. 1 in F sharp minor
Arnold Bax
85/100 +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: Connaissance des formes and Indépendance des mains — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Balanced
Album 8, A.358
Heitor Villa-Lobos
85/100 +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: Indépendance des mains and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
24 Preludes and Fugues, op. 87
Dmitri Shostakovich
88/100 +13 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 and Lecture avec altérations accidentelles — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Piano Sonata in F sharp minor
Igor Stravinsky
83/100 +8 pts 16-32 weeks
partial transfer 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: Connaissance des formes and Indépendance des mains — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

Challenge
Variations and Toccata on 'Aurora lucis rutilat', op. 52
Alberto Ginastera
95/100 +20 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: Staccato and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Challenge
Toccata, villancico, and fugue, op. 18
Alberto Ginastera
90/100 +15 pts 36-72 weeks
partial transfer moderate 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: Staccato and Analyse harmonique — 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
Cantéyodjayâ, I/30
Olivier Messiaen
75/100 same level 5-8 weeks
close skills 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: Passages rapides and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level
Pièce pour le tombeau de Paul Dukas, I/16
Olivier Messiaen
73/100 -2 pts 5-8 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Analyse harmonique — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Same level
Visions fugitives, op. 22
Sergei Prokofiev
78/100 +3 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: Staccato and Style moderne et contemporain — 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.