The second installment of the Distans series employs a sparse harmonic language. It is notable for its quiet, interior emotional landscape.
At Henle 3 this is a late-beginner piece — comfortable hands-together playing is assumed, and musical shaping starts to matter. The main demands: a true singing tone, with the melody floating above the accompaniment; chord voicing — bringing out one note inside a handful of others; and careful pedaling — clarity depends on the foot as much as the fingers.
The primary challenge is controlling the dynamic level to keep the piece within its intimate, subdued character.
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.
Distans II is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 3.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 3 — meaning you can already play level 2–3 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 Distans II lasts about 3 minutes.
Distans II 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 Distans I by Fernando Mattos, Distans III by Fernando Mattos, Canoinha by Fernando Mattos — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.