Conrad Ansorge was a pupil of Liszt, and this work reflects the virtuosic, improvisatory style of the late Romantic era. It features grand gestures and dense harmonic language typical of the post-Lisztian tradition.
Students must manage the large chordal passages while keeping the melodic voice projecting above the texture.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Ballade 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 Ballade lasts about 6 minutes.
Ballade 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 Ballade No.2 by York Bowen, Andante final from Donizetti's 'Lucia de Lammermoor' Op.44 by Sigismond Thalberg, Andante final de 'Lucia di Lammermoor' by Sigismond Thalberg — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.