Repertoire › No.113 — Bulgarian Rhythm (1) › What to play next
What to play after No.113 — Bulgarian Rhythm (1) ?
Béla Bartók · difficulty 44/100

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
Sinfonia No.12 in A major BWV 798
Johann Sebastian Bach
50/100 +5 pts 4-8 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Style baroque and Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
Sinfonia No.10 in G major BWV 796
Johann Sebastian Bach
50/100 +5 pts 4-8 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Style baroque and Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
The Augustan Club Waltzes
Scott Joplin
50/100 +6 pts 5-10 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Syncopes and Indépendance des mains — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Gentle
No.108 — Wrestling
Béla Bartók
51/100 +7 pts 5-10 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Passages rapides and Syncopes — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Gentle
5. Allegro moderato
Béla Bartók
51/100 +7 pts 5-10 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Balanced step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
3 Rondos on Slovak Folktunes, BB92, Sz.84
Béla Bartók
55/100 +11 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). 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
Chords Together and Opposed
Béla Bartók
56/100 +12 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Indépendance des mains — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Mazurka no. 8 in A-flat major, op. 7 no. 4
Frédéric Chopin
54/100 +10 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Ornements romantiques and Rythmes pointés — ornaments must be secure before the piece goes up to tempo, otherwise they break the line instead of decorating it.
Balanced
Sinfonia No.15 in B minor BWV 801
Johann Sebastian Bach
57/100 +13 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Style baroque and Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — 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
7. Variante della precedente (concert version)
Béla Bartók
62/100 +18 pts 24-48 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. The demand here is musical rather than mechanical: Style romantique — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Challenge
Rêverie L.68
Claude Debussy
61/100 +17 pts 24-48 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Voix chantante — the notes will be secure long before the musical line: work in whole phrases, singing the main voice.
Challenge
Bagpipe
Béla Bartók
60/100 +16 pts 24-48 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Rythme général — 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
Invention No.14 in B-flat major BWV 785
Johann Sebastian Bach
43/100 -2 pts 3-4 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Elementary (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Style baroque and Polyphonie à deux voix — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Same level
Variations on a Folk Tune
Béla Bartók
42/100 -2 pts 3-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Elementary (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. The skill that will carry the work: Contrôle du toucher — what matters is quality of attack and evenness of tone, not speed.
Same level
Toccata from Mikrokosmos Vol.4 No.115
Béla Bartók
42/100 -3 pts 3-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Elementary (around grade 5 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.