Reinhold Glière's Op. 4 Ballade is an intense, virtuoso work that showcases the composer's Russian Romantic roots. Its writing is thick and demanding, often utilizing the full range of the keyboard to create a symphonic sound world.
The performer must maintain technical agility through powerful octave passages and dense harmonic shifts.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Ballade (Op.4) 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 (Op.4) lasts about 9 minutes.
Ballade (Op.4) 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 Franz Liszt, Bach- Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (Transcription) by Louis Brassin, Piano Sonata No. 23 'Appassionata' by Ludwig van Beethoven — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.