Javier Jacinto's work is contemporary Spanish music that utilizes impressionistic textures to evoke oceanic vastness. It employs wide-spaced arpeggios and pedal-heavy resonance to create a lush, expansive soundscape.
At Henle 5 this is a late-intermediate piece — technically substantial, with musical demands to match. The main demands: sweeping arpeggio figures that must stay smooth across positions, and careful pedaling — clarity depends on the foot as much as the fingers.
The technical challenge is managing the pedaling to sustain the atmospheric resonance without blurring the harmonic shifts.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
A level or two down with the same spirit — ideal if this piece is still out of reach.
Where this piece's skills lead: slightly harder works making similar technical demands.
Como el mar is rated Henle level 5 of 9 — late intermediate repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 6–7.
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 Como el mar lasts about 5 minutes.
Como el mar 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 Canción de Dulcinea by Javier Jacinto, Belea eta azeria by Javier Jacinto, Asturias (Leyenda) by Isaac Albéniz — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.