Repertoire › Prelude and Fugue in C minor › What to play next
What to play after Prelude and Fugue in C minor ?
Johann Sebastian Bach · difficulty 65/100

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
Fuga
Girolamo Frescobaldi
70/100 +5 pts 7-14 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Gentle
Fantazia op de Fuga van M: Jan Pieters, Fecit Dr. Bull 1621
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
70/100 +5 pts 7-14 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Gentle
Fugue no. 2 en Do Mineur, BWV.871
Johann Sebastian Bach
70/100 +5 pts 7-14 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Gentle
Fugue no. 13 en Fa Dièse Majeur, BWV.882
Johann Sebastian Bach
71/100 +6 pts 7-14 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Gentle
Fugue, D. 13
Franz Schubert
68/100 +3 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Analyse harmonique and Style baroque — 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
Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E-flat major, BWV 998
Johann Sebastian Bach
76/100 +11 pts 14-28 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Passages rapides and Doigté complexe — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Adagio and Fugue in C minor
Mozart
75/100 +10 pts 14-28 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Analyse harmonique and Style baroque — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Balanced
Fugue no. 23 en Si Majeur, BWV.892
Johann Sebastian Bach
73/100 +8 pts 14-28 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Balanced
Toccata, Fuga, Allegro, Corrente in G minor
Alessandro Scarlatti
79/100 +14 pts 14-28 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

Challenge
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV.903
Johann Sebastian Bach
80/100 +15 pts 32-64 weeks
partial transfer 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: Croisements de mains and Analyse harmonique — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Challenge
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV.564
Johann Sebastian Bach
86/100 +21 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: Staccato and Analyse harmonique — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Suite g minor
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
65/100 same level 4-7 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, right at the edge of Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM): different ground, same level. 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.
Same level
French Suite no. 5 in G major, BWV.816
Johann Sebastian Bach
66/100 +1 pts 4-7 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Connaissance des formes and Polyphonie à deux voix — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level
Partita no. 5 in G major, BWV.829
Johann Sebastian Bach
67/100 +2 pts 4-7 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Connaissance des formes and Polyphonie à deux voix — 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.