An Allegory reflects Leo Ornstein's distinctively raw and dissonant harmonic language. The piece functions as a moody, textural narrative that rejects conventional tonality in favor of dense, cluster-like sonorities.
Master the balance of complex, multi-layered textures while managing the wide dynamic range.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
An Allegory is rated Henle level 6 of 9 — advanced repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 7–8. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 9.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 6 — meaning you can already play level 5–6 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of An Allegory lasts about 5 minutes.
An Allegory is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.
Pieces at a comparable difficulty and character include Piano Sonata No. 17 'Tempest', No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven, Allegro de concert by Aleksandr Scriabin, 'The King of the Jews' - Incidental Music by Alexander Glazunov — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.