Sonata in B flat major, K.351, L.S34
Baroque Sonata Piano solo ~5 min
In brief

This B-flat major sonata is lively and slightly nervous, alternating brisk passages and pointed effects that require clear articulation to keep its bite. You will specifically face the skill « Ornements baroque (3.1/5) », which here means executing short, precise trills and embellishments placed exactly in the rhythm, and « Lecture clé de fa (3.1/5) », since the left hand contains lines in the bass clef that demand secure reading and tight right/left coordination. It belongs to the Baroque period and to Scarlatti’s large set of short keyboard sonatas designed for expressive, idiomatic keyboard writing.

MusicCoach difficulty
57/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 45–68/100
Confidence : 55% · fair confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 6

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.

Where this work sits
050100

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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Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
6
62/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
54%
Among Domenico Scarlatti
56%
Era Baroque
43%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Reading
Bass clef reading
1
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
1
Style
Baroque style
1
Tone
Touch control
1
Pedaling
Half-pedalling
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
What to play next?

Each suggestion combines difficulty gap, risk, confidence and skill overlap. The first two cards in each column are the most useful pedagogically.

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