Ferdinand Hiller's Ballade is a virtuosic display piece reflective of the mid-19th-century salon bravura. It stands out for its bold, orchestral-style writing for the keyboard.
Managing the large-scale dynamic shifts and octave-driven passages requires significant stamina and control.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Ballade in E minor is rated Henle level 7 of 9 — late advanced repertoire, roughly ABRSM grade 8 and above. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 9.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 7 — meaning you can already play level 6–7 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 in E minor lasts about 7 minutes.
Ballade in E minor 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 Caprice fantastique by Ferdinand Hiller, Caprice fantastique by Ferdinand Hiller, Ballade No.2 by Franz Liszt — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.