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 sprightly and energetic, alternating brisk, articulated keyboard passages with more singing responses that require constant rhythmic clarity. Among the technical challenges, the skill “Connaissance des formes (3.6/5)” (knowledge of forms) here requires identifying and highlighting repeats and contrasting sections to shape each short phrase, and “Ornements baroque (3.1/5)” (baroque ornaments) entails executing trills and appoggiaturas with regularity and lightness so as not to weigh down the line. From a contextual point of view, the piece belongs to the Baroque period and is one of the many keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, conceived as compact virtuosic studies that often exploit wide leaps and bright openings. I do not give a reference performance out of caution, since I am not fully certain of a single recording universally recognized for this specific sonata.