Fauré’s Op. 19 Ballade is a masterpiece of early Impressionist-Romantic synthesis, originally composed for piano and later orchestrated. It is renowned for its complex syncopations and shimmering, ethereal middle section.
Mastering the cross-rhythms and the delicate, rapid passage work in the middle section is essential for a polished performance.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Ballade is rated Henle level 8 of 9 — concert repertoire, roughly diploma level. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 10.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 8 — meaning you can already play level 7–8 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 14 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 Frédéric Chopin, Ballade No.2 by Franz Liszt, Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor by Frédéric Chopin — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.