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 B-flat major sonata feels lively yet taut, with quick leaps and rapid responses that require clean articulation to reveal the underlying dance drive rather than blur it. Technically, Connaissance des formes (3.6/5) matters here: you must identify and balance the binary sections and manage repeats so phrasing and dynamics remain coherent, and Ornements baroque (3.1/5) demand precise fingering and wrist control to execute short mordents and ornamentation without smudging the line. From a factual standpoint, the piece belongs to the Baroque keyboard sonata repertoire of Scarlatti, originally conceived for harpsichord but often played on piano, and it typifies his interplay between left- and right-hand textures and broken-chord effects. I do not provide a recommended recording because I prefer not to cite a specific interpretation unless I am certain of it.