A contemporary character piece that explores modern harmonic color and emotional intensity. Its distinctiveness arises from the use of lingering dissonances and sparse textures.
Ensure the phrasing is well-shaped through careful control of touch and pedal.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Catharsis is rated Henle level 4 of 9 — intermediate repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 5–6. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 6.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 4 — meaning you can already play level 3–4 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 Catharsis lasts about 4 minutes.
Catharsis 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 Belà by Maria Romanova, Gymnopédie No. 1 by Erik Satie, Gymnopédie No. 3 by Erik Satie — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.