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 unfolds with a bright, lively character, propelled by quick exchanges between right and left hand and rhythmic breaks that require crisp articulation. Given the listed skills, Knowledge of forms (3.6/5) is important to make the binary layout and repeats clear: you will need to shape thematic answers and manage the repeat so phrases remain balanced; Baroque style (3.1/5) requires a light touch, pointed accents and attention to ornaments so the writing never sounds heavy or Romantic. The piece sits within Scarlatti’s large cycle of keyboard sonatas, typical of the Baroque keyboard repertoire for their concision and idiomatic inventiveness. I will not name reference recordings here, as I am not certain of a single widely acknowledged recording for this specific sonata.