A lyrical contemporary work emphasizing melodic expansion and subtle harmonic color. It features a gentle, flowing structure reminiscent of late-romantic nocturnes.
At Henle 4 this is an intermediate piece that expects secure technique and real attention to phrasing. The main demands: a true singing tone, with the melody floating above the accompaniment; rubato that must breathe naturally without losing the pulse; and continuous sixteenth-note figuration that must ripple, not chatter.
Focus on the coordination between the flowing sixteenth-note accompaniment and the cantabile top voice.
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.
Lesser-known works by the same hand, at a comparable level.
Extolling 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 Extolling lasts about 3 minutes.
Extolling 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 Dark Sky by Cheng-Shiun Li, Fairy tale by Cheng-Shiun Li, Bonne humeur by Cécile Chaminade — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.