Repertoire › Violin Concerto, "Concentric Paths" › What to play next
What to play after Violin Concerto, "Concentric Paths" ?
Thomas Adès · 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
Violin Concerto no. 2, "In tempus praesens"
Sofia Gubaidulina
80/100 +5 pts 8-16 weeks
new reflexes 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: Passages rapides and Analyse harmonique — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Gentle
Subito, for violin and piano
Witold Lutoslawski
80/100 +5 pts 8-16 weeks
new reflexes 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: Passages rapides — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Gentle
Violin Concerto no. 3 in B minor, op. 61
Camille Saint-Saëns
80/100 +5 pts 7-14 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Indépendance des mains — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Gentle
Violin Concerto no. 1 in D minor, op. 27
Ernst von Dohnányi
79/100 +4 pts 7-14 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Contrôle du toucher — what matters is a steady sustained tone: bow speed, contact point and pressure even, before any thought of speed.
Gentle
Violin Concerto no. 1
Krzysztof Penderecki
78/100 +3 pts 7-14 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Passages rapides — 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
Violin Concerto
Alban Berg
85/100 +10 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: Style moderne et contemporain — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Balanced
Violin Concerto in A minor, op. 53
Antonín Dvořák
83/100 +8 pts 16-32 weeks
new reflexes 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, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Balanced
Violin Concerto in D major, op. 35
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
89/100 +14 pts 16-32 weeks
new reflexes 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: Indépendance des mains — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Balanced
Violin Concerto, op. 36
Arnold Schoenberg
89/100 +14 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: 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
Violin Concerto in D major, op. 77
Johannes Brahms
93/100 +18 pts 36-72 weeks
new reflexes 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. The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Tempo rubato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Violin Concerto no. 2 in B minor, BB117, Sz.112
Béla Bartók
75/100 same level 5-8 weeks
new reflexes 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: Style moderne et contemporain and Balance mains — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Same level
Violin Concerto, op. 14
Samuel Barber
75/100 same level 5-8 weeks
new reflexes 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: Style moderne et contemporain and Indépendance des mains — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Same level
Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61
Ludwig van Beethoven
75/100 same level 5-8 weeks
new reflexes 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: Contrôle du toucher — what matters is a steady sustained tone: bow speed, contact point and pressure even, before any thought of speed.
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.