Bach's "Ascension" (BWV 428, often cataloged as a chorale prelude) is a profound exploration of the chorale melody "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr." It features rich harmonic language and a deeply spiritual contemplation of Christ's ascension.
Requires a deep understanding of Baroque harmony and expressive pedaling to achieve a sonorous and reverent performance.
Ascension is rated Henle level 6 of 9 — advanced repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 7–8. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 8.
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 Ascension lasts about 5 minutes.
Ascension is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.