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Estimated from our difficulty score, not taken from an exam syllabus. Checked against 333 works on the ABRSM syllabus: the exact grade is right 7 times out of 10, and within one grade 99 times out of 100.
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Most works cluster between 45 and 65: a small score gap often marks a real step. The highlighted bar shows this work among those for the same instrument.
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This E minor Sonata has a dark, rhapsodic character, alternating impetuous passages with very quiet lyrical episodes that require sustained line and contrast; a sense of rhythmic urgency sits alongside folk-like returning motifs. You will particularly face Knowledge of forms (Connaissance des formes 3.6/5) and Harmonic analysis (Analyse harmonique 3.6/5): you must map repeats and formal shifts to shape breaths and phrases, and read harmonic progressions to anticipate accents and cadences so your touch and pedaling remain coherent. Placed in the late Romantic idiom, the work is an important solo-piano piece in MacDowell's output, combining lyricism and pianistic virtuosity. I do not provide a specific recommended recording here, out of caution.