Repertoire › Etude-Tableau Op.39 No.5 in E-flat minor › What to play next
What to play after Etude-Tableau Op.39 No.5 in E-flat minor ?
Sergei Rachmaninoff · difficulty 77/100

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
Etude E flat major op. 42 no. 8
Alexander Scriabin
83/100 +6 pts 8-16 weeks
partial transfer 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 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
Symphonic Études Op.13
Robert Schumann
83/100 +6 pts 8-16 weeks
partial transfer 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: Octaves and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Etude 14a, for player piano, "Coloana färä stârsit"
György Ligeti
80/100 +3 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: Indépendance des mains — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
Study no. 23: Allegro, etude
Charles Ives
80/100 +3 pts 8-16 weeks
partial transfer 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: Style moderne et contemporain and Gammes et arpèges — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
Étude
Igor Stravinsky
80/100 +3 pts 8-16 weeks
partial transfer 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: 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.
Balanced step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
Etudes-tableaux, op. 39
Sergei Rachmaninoff
88/100 +11 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: Passages rapides — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
3 Studies, op. 18, BB81, Sz.72
Béla Bartók
90/100 +13 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 Gammes et arpèges — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Balanced
Étude Op. 10, No. 1
Frédéric Chopin
90/100 +13 pts 18-36 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: Indépendance des mains — 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
Variations and Toccata on 'Aurora lucis rutilat', op. 52
Alberto Ginastera
95/100 +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. 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 and Fugue in D minor, BWV.565
Ferruccio Busoni
95/100 +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. 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.
Challenge
Liszt: Cadenza on Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2, TN iii/6
Sergei Rachmaninoff
92/100 +15 pts 36-72 weeks
new reflexes 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: Rythmes pointés and Ornements romantiques — 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
Etude-tableaux Op.33
Sergei Rachmaninoff
77/100 same level 5-8 weeks
partial transfer 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: Gammes et arpèges — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level
Toccata in G minor, BWV.915
Johann Sebastian Bach
79/100 +2 pts 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: Staccato and Style baroque — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level
Toccata, op. 7
Robert Schumann
79/100 +2 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 — 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.