Henning Mankell was a Swedish composer whose style is often compared to the Nordic Romantic tradition. His Ballade No. 4 is a dense, emotionally charged work that relies on large-scale developmental techniques.
The primary challenge is managing the wide-span arpeggiated figures without losing rhythmic momentum.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Ballade No.4 (Op.11) is rated Henle level 7 of 9 — late advanced repertoire, roughly ABRSM grade 8 and above.
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.
Ballade No.4 (Op.11) 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.4 by Henning Mankell, Ballade No, 7 by Henning Mankell, Ballade No.1 by Frederic Chopin — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.