Violin and piano · 2 performers
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.
Difficulty estimate by MusicCoach on a scale of 1 to 100.
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.
The MusicCoach difficulty measures a work's overall demands (technique, reading, stamina) on a shared 0-100 scale, consolidated from editorial and pedagogical reference points (Henle, exam syllabuses, curation) and our own analyses. It measures neither musical value nor the practice time YOU will need: two musicians of the same level can experience the same work very differently depending on their strengths (hands used to octaves, quick sight-reading…). The confidence reflects how many reference points sit behind the score and how well they agree — a lightly documented score is flagged “to validate”. For a truly personal bearing, the diagnostic and your space compare each work to YOUR estimated level, which the score alone cannot do.
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This D minor Sonata has a dark yet singing character, with long lyrical lines alternating with more nervous, rhythmic passages that require sustaining a continuous line through changes of energy. Technically, pay close attention to Legato bowing (3.6/5): you must keep long, sustained phrases with seamless bow changes and clean string crossings, and to Vibrato (3.6/5): it needs subtle control of intensity to color phrases without disturbing intonation, especially in the upper register. Stylistically, the piece belongs to the Romantic chamber repertoire and occupies a place among the composer's intimate violin-and-piano works, favoring conversational writing over orchestral grandeur. I do not give a recommendation of specific recordings here, as I am not certain of a single widely recognized reference for this particular sonata.