Anton de Kontski, a famed virtuoso, crafted this Ballade as a vehicle for display, utilizing brilliant passage work and bravura octave writing. The piece emphasizes the pianist's ability to maintain high-energy momentum throughout.
The main hurdle is achieving clean, even execution of the virtuosic octave-runs at a rapid tempo.
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 7 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 by Anton de Kontski, Belfagor by Ottorino Respighi, 'Aïda' fantaisie by Ernest Nathan — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.