Repertoire › Bunte Bühne › What to play next
What to play after Bunte Bühne ?
Richard Batka · difficulty 45/100

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
Lied in F minor, for cello and piano
Sergei Rachmaninoff
49/100 +4 pts 4-8 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Gentle
Danse bohémienne, for cello and piano, op. 28
Jacques Offenbach
48/100 +3 pts 4-8 weeks
partial transfer low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Rythmes pointés and Vibrato (violoncelle) — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Gentle
Canto Marinaresco for Cello and Piano
Enrico Scognamillo
48/100 +3 pts 4-8 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Vibrato (violoncelle) and Détaché (violoncelle) — what matters is a steady sustained tone: bow speed, contact point and pressure even, before any thought of speed.
Gentle
Tempo di valse, for cello and piano, JS 194
Jean Sibelius
52/100 +7 pts 5-10 weeks
close skills low risk to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Rythmes pointés and Détaché (violoncelle) — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Balanced step

A genuine step up, without a jolt.

Balanced
Cantilena ed allegro moderato alla mazurka, Op.107
Friedrich August Kummer
56/100 +11 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Rythmes pointés and Changements de position (violoncelle) — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
Balanced
6 Studies in English Folk Song, for cello and piano
Ralph Vaughan Williams
55/100 +10 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Passages rapides and Vibrato (violoncelle) — practise it slowly, separating left hand from bow: bow alone on open strings, then the fingering silently.
Balanced
2 Pieces for Cello and Piano, op. 2
Sergei Rachmaninoff
57/100 +12 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Caractère et style — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Balanced
Chant saphique, for cello and piano, op. 91
Camille Saint-Saëns
54/100 +9 pts 10-20 weeks
partial transfer moderate risk to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). 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.
Ambitious challenge

A useful leap with guided practice.

Challenge
Cello Sonata no. 1 in D minor, op. 109
Gabriel Fauré
64/100 +19 pts 24-48 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap while staying in Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Connaissance des formes and Vibrato (violoncelle) — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Challenge
Cello Sonata no. 2 in F major, op. 123
Camille Saint-Saëns
61/100 +16 pts 24-48 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap while staying in Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Vibrato (violoncelle) and Connaissance des formes — what matters is a steady sustained tone: bow speed, contact point and pressure even, before any thought of speed.
Challenge
Suite (Skordatur) c minor BWV 1011
Eugene Ysaÿe
61/100 +16 pts 24-48 weeks
new reflexes high risk to confirm
An ambitious leap while staying in Intermediate (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Doigté complexe and Style baroque — settle and write in both fingering and bowings at first reading: changing them later costs weeks.
Same level

To widen the repertoire without raising the level.

Same level
Lied ohne Worte, for cello and piano, op. 109
Felix Mendelssohn
42/100 -3 pts 3-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, right at the edge of Elementary (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM): different ground, same level. What changes is the skill in play: Voix chantante and Vibrato (violoncelle) — the notes will be secure long before the musical line: work in whole phrases, singing the main voice.
Same level
Variations concertantes, for cello and piano, op. 17
Felix Mendelssohn
48/100 +3 pts 3-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Connaissance des formes and Vibrato (violoncelle) — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level
Elégie for Cello and Orchestra, op. 24
Gabriel Fauré
42/100 -3 pts 3-4 weeks
new reflexes low risk to confirm
Equivalent demands, right at the edge of Elementary (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM): different ground, same level. What changes is the skill in play: Contrôle du toucher — what matters is a steady sustained tone: bow speed, contact point and pressure even, before any thought of speed.
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.