Holbrooke's first Cambrian Ballade is a virtuosic, highly atmospheric work rooted in Welsh folk influences and post-Romantic textures. It makes extensive use of the keyboard's full range to convey a dramatic, legendary tone.
The main technical hurdle is the large, wide-span chords that require significant hand flexibility and tension control.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Cambrian Ballade No.1 (Op.80) is rated Henle level 6 of 9 — advanced repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 7–8. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 9.
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 Cambrian Ballade No.1 (Op.80) lasts about 7 minutes.
Cambrian Ballade No.1 (Op.80) 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 Cambrian Ballade No. 1 by Joseph Holbrooke, Cambrian Ballade No. 2 by Joseph Holbrooke, Cambrian Ballade No. 3 by Joseph Holbrooke — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.