This Ballade is a rare example of Russian Romantic salon music by the relatively obscure composer Aleksandr Olenin. It is characterized by its song-like melody and typical mid-19th-century sentimental harmonic language.
The primary challenge lies in maintaining a fluid, singing tone across the melodic lines while managing subtle dynamic shifts.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Ballad (Op.5) is rated Henle level 4 of 9 — intermediate repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 5–6. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 6.
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 Ballad (Op.5) lasts about 3 minutes.
Ballad (Op.5) 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 Barcarolle by Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Albumblatt in A minor by Johannes Brahms, Albumblatt by Carl Filtsch — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.