Balada Azul explores a modal, impressionistic soundscape that evokes the color blue through evocative, shimmering harmonic clusters. It represents the distinct South American modern style of its composer.
Mastering the pedal usage is essential to creating the desired hazy, coloristic atmosphere without blurring the harmonic changes.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Balada Azul is rated Henle level 4 of 9 — intermediate repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 5–6. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 5.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 4 — meaning you can already play level 3–4 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 Balada Azul lasts about 3 minutes.
Balada Azul 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 Canción sin palabras by Néstor Guestrin, Canción y Danza de Chachapoyas by Néstor Guestrin, Gymnopédie No. 1 by Erik Satie — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.