Repertoire › Pictures at an Exhibition › What to play next
What to play after Pictures at an Exhibition ?
Modest Mussorgsky · difficulty 82/100

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
Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2
Franz Liszt
87/100 +5 pts 8-16 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). The skill that will carry the work: Passages rapides — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Goldberg Variations, BWV.988
Johann Sebastian Bach
87/100 +4 pts 8-16 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: Croisements de mains and Analyse harmonique — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Islamey Op.18
Mily Balakirev
86/100 +3 pts 8-16 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: Rythmes pointés and Croisements de mains — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Gentle
Piano Sonata in B minor S.178
Franz Liszt
86/100 +3 pts 8-16 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: Trilles and Analyse harmonique — 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
Rhapsodie espagnole, S.254, R.90, "Folies d'Espagne et jota aragonesa"
Franz Liszt
95/100 +13 pts 18-36 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in 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
Piano Sonata b minor
Franz Liszt
95/100 +13 pts 18-36 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). The skill that will carry the work: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Sonata no. 3 in B minor, op. 58
Frédéric Chopin
91/100 +9 pts 18-36 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Analyse harmonique and Passages rapides — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Balanced
Piano Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor, op. 36
Sergei Rachmaninoff
91/100 +9 pts 18-36 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Analyse harmonique and Passages rapides — 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
Ab irato, S.143, "The Perfect Etude"
Franz Liszt
100/100 +18 pts 40-80 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap while staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Gammes et arpèges and Demi-pédale — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Challenge
A.r.
Iannis Xenakis
100/100 +18 pts 40-80 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap while staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Technique générale — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Challenge
Fantasy and Fugue on the Chorale Ad nos, ad salutarem undam, S.624, R.314
Franz Liszt
98/100 +16 pts 36-72 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap while staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Analyse harmonique — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Gaspard de la nuit
Maurice Ravel
82/100 -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: Doubles notes — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level
Sonata Op.57 (Appassionata)
Ludwig van Beethoven
81/100 -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: Trilles and Analyse harmonique — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level
A Children's Prank, scherzo
Modest Mussorgsky
80/100 -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: Staccato — 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.