Repertoire › Ballad for Violin and Piano › What to play next
What to play after Ballad for Violin and Piano ?
Arnold Bax · difficulty 64/100

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 Sonata
Leonard Bernstein
69/100 +5 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Gentle
Violin Sonata no. 4 in F
Arnold Bax
70/100 +6 pts 7-14 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Gentle
Violin Sonata no. 1 in E
Arnold Bax
70/100 +6 pts 7-14 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Gentle
Violin Sonata no. 3, H.303
Bohuslav Martinů
70/100 +6 pts 7-14 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Gentle
7 Cançons Valencianes, for violin and piano
Joaquín Rodrigo
68/100 +4 pts 6-12 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up — but it is the one that moves you into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain and Vibrato — 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
Baal Shem: 3 Pictures of Hassidic life, for violin and piano
Ernest Bloch
74/100 +9 pts 14-28 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Balanced
Violin Sonata, op. 31, no. 1
Paul Hindemith
74/100 +9 pts 14-28 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Balanced
Violin Sonata no. 1
Ernest Bloch
78/100 +14 pts 14-28 weeks
close skills moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Legato d'archet and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Balanced
Violin Concerto no. 1 in A minor, op. 77
Dmitri Shostakovich
78/100 +14 pts 14-28 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up: this piece moves you into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style moderne et contemporain — 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
Arnold Bax
80/100 +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: Passages rapides and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Challenge
Fantasy for Violin and Piano, op. 47
Arnold Schoenberg
85/100 +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: Positions hautes and Analyse harmonique — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Challenge
Rhapsody for Violin and Piano no. 1, BB94a, Sz.86
Béla Bartók
80/100 +15 pts 28-56 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
An ambitious leap into Advanced (around grade 8 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Octaves and Rythme d'archet complexe — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 3, op. 89: I. Moderato
Vagn Holmboe
63/100 -1 pts 4-7 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Legato d'archet and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Same level
Reveille, for violin and piano
Benjamin Britten
62/100 -2 pts 4-7 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Rythme d'archet complexe and Coups d'archet composés — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Same level
Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 2, op. 16: III. Allegro non troppo ma con brio
Vagn Holmboe
62/100 -2 pts 4-7 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Legato d'archet and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
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.