Bach-Busoni chorales

[verywellmister]

What are the grades(ABRSM) for these transcriptions?  My mom would like to learn one and I don't want to over challenge her (she's self taught).

[luka]

          Hello,

                      I have played all of these pieces over the years and can give you some idea of their difficulty. I live in Australia and while our system is different (not ABRSM), I believe they more or less correspond {i.e Grades 1-8, followed by Diploma level (9), followed by Licentiate (10) - levels 9-10 are considered concert standard}. So, based on this scaling, my opinion on the difficulty of these pieces would go like this:

1. Komm, Gott Schopfer.... 8-9
2. Wachet auf......7-8 (contrapuntal difficulties)
3. Nun komm........6-7
4. Nun freut euch......9 (not as daunting as it first appears, but still a virtuoso showpiece)
5. Ich ruf zu dir.......5-6
6. Herr Gott........7 (a personal favourite)
7. Durch Adams Fall........7-8 (prelude and fugue)
8. In dir ist Freude......9 (harder than it appears and probably the most difficult of the set, you'll need good thirds and sixths....another favourite).
9. Jesus Christus............8

                   Provided you stay away from Nun Freut Euch and In dir ist Fruede (and possibly Komm, Gott Schopfer), you should find that these pieces are within reach. Please note that many of the pieces call for stretches of a tenth. I think they are fantastic transcriptions and I prefer them to the transcriptions of the larger preludes and fugues.

Hope this helps, Luka