Repertoire › 90+ › What to play next
What to play after 90+ ?
Elliott Carter · 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
Aria and 10 Variations, for keyboard in C major, BuxWV246
Dietrich Buxtehude
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: Connaissance des formes and Style baroque — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Gentle
Partite 6 sopra l'Aria di Follia
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: Style baroque and Ornements baroque — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
Free Variations
Béla Bartók
69/100 +4 pts 6-12 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: Demi-pédale and Analyse harmonique — the pedal is set by ear, note by note: misjudged, it blurs the harmony instead of joining it.
Gentle
Aria and 3 Variations, for harpsichord in A minor, BuxWV249
Dietrich Buxtehude
68/100 +3 pts 6-12 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: Connaissance des formes and Style baroque — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Gentle
Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann
Johannes Brahms
72/100 +7 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: Indépendance des mains and Doigté complexe — 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
Piano Sonata
Elliott Carter
75/100 +10 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: Connaissance des formes and Voix chantante — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Balanced
Piano Sonata G major op. 78 D 894
Franz Schubert
74/100 +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: Connaissance des formes and Passages rapides — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Balanced
Fantasy and Sonata c minor K. 475/457
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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). The skill that will carry the work: Analyse harmonique — 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
Gaspard de la nuit
Maurice Ravel
82/100 +17 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: Passages rapides — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Challenge
Sonata Op.57 (Appassionata)
Ludwig van Beethoven
81/100 +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: Trilles and Connaissance des formes — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Challenge
Night Fantasies
Elliott Carter
80/100 +15 pts 32-64 weeks
new reflexes 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: Passages rapides — 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
Sonata in B-flat major K.333
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
66/100 +1 pts 4-7 weeks
new reflexes 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 — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level
Sonata in A major K.331
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
68/100 +3 pts 4-7 weeks
new reflexes 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: Style classique and Rythmes pointés — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
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.