Repertoire › Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes › What to play next
What to play after Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes ?
Johann Sebastian Bach · difficulty 72/100

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
Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV.532
Johann Sebastian Bach
77/100 +5 pts 7-14 weeks
partial transfer 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 Passages rapides — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Gentle
Prélude, Aria et Final (A Madame Bordes-Pène)
César Franck
78/100 +6 pts 7-14 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Contrôle du toucher — what matters is quality of attack and evenness of tone, not speed.
Gentle
Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Major, BWV 552
Johann Sebastian Bach
79/100 +7 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 Indépendance des mains — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Gentle
Prelude and Fugue in E minor
Alexander Glazunov
75/100 +3 pts 7-14 weeks
partial transfer 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 Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Gentle
Prelude and Fugue in D minor, op. 62
Alexander Glazunov
75/100 +3 pts 7-14 weeks
partial transfer 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 Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Balanced step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
Bach: Prelude, Gavotte, and Gigue from Partita in E for Solo Violin, TN iii/1
Sergei Rachmaninoff
83/100 +11 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 Style baroque — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Balanced
In Dominum Domini Ibimus, prelude, S.671
Franz Liszt
81/100 +9 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 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.
Balanced
Prelude and Fugue, for piano
Alfred Schnittke
80/100 +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: Connaissance des formes and Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — 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
Prélude, choral et fugue, M.21
César Franck
88/100 +16 pts 32-64 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: Analyse harmonique and Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Challenge
24 Preludes and Fugues, op. 87
Dmitri Shostakovich
88/100 +16 pts 32-64 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: Style moderne et contemporain — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV.543, "The Great"
Johann Sebastian Bach
75/100 +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: Connaissance des formes and Indépendance des mains — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level
Liebesträum No.3 in A-flat major S.541
Franz Liszt
75/100 +3 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: Voix chantante and Ornements romantiques — the notes will be secure long before the musical line: work in whole phrases, singing the main voice.
Same level
Prelude and Fugue in D minor, BWV.539, "Fiddle"
Johann Sebastian Bach
75/100 +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: Connaissance des formes and Demi-pédale — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
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.