Rheinberger brings a contrapuntal rigor to this Ballade, blending lyrical Romanticism with academic precision. The piece features well-developed thematic sections that require structural awareness.
The primary challenge is balancing the inner voices against the primary melody in the thicker textures.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Ballade (Op. 7 No.2) is rated Henle level 5 of 9 — late intermediate repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 6–7. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 8.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 5 — meaning you can already play level 4–5 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. 7 No.2) lasts about 6 minutes.
Ballade (Op. 7 No.2) 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 12 Variations in B-flat major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Blue Tango by Leroy Anderson, Sarabande by George Frideric Handel — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.