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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Each suggestion combines difficulty gap, risk, confidence and skill overlap. The first two cards in each column are the most useful pedagogically.
The safest next step.
A genuine step up, without a jolt.
A useful leap with guided practice.
Lichtzwang unfolds a tense, incisive atmosphere where the solo line alternates between sharp interventions and held phrases that give a sense of contained urgency. You will face concrete technical challenges notably in Touch Control (2.5/5) — you must precisely vary bow pressure and attack to produce shifting timbres without losing clarity — and in Legato (2.5/5), where phrase continuity requires very even bowing and careful fingering adjustments to avoid breaks in sound. The work belongs to Rihm's contemporary output for soloist and orchestra, part of his exploration of texture and instrumental dramatization. I do not provide a recommended recording because I am not sufficiently certain of a single definitive interpretation for this piece.