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.
This A major sonata by Scarlatti feels playful and brisk, built from sparkling chordal leaps and quick exchanges between the hands that create a lively conversational effect. You will face concrete technical challenges in Analysis harmonique (3.6/5): you must identify and anticipate quick harmonic shifts and redistribute voices so the lines remain clear, and in Baroque ornaments (3.1/5) where accurate execution of trills and mordents and their rhythmic placement require steady fingering and tempo control. The piece belongs to Scarlatti’s keyboard output from the Baroque period, where he explored idiomatic effects for harpsichord and early piano through many short characterful sonatas intended for study and domestic performance. I do not provide a performance reference here, out of caution unless I can be certain of a widely recognized recording for this specific sonata.