Jeff Manookian’s compositions often feature striking rhythmic patterns and a modern harmonic vocabulary. This piece frames the ballade form through a 21st-century lens, prioritizing atmospheric changes and sharp articulations.
Managing the rhythmic precision in the transition between lyrical sections and more aggressive, percussive segments is key.
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 Cadenzas to Mozart's Piano Concerto No.13 by Jeff Manookian, Cadenzas to Mozart's Piano Concerto No.17 by Jeff Manookian, All'Antica by Jeff Manookian — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.