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 Scarlatti sonata displays a bright rhythmic clarity and contrapuntal interplay that gives it a playful yet precise character, with sparkling leaps and echoing exchanges between the hands. You will face specific demands such as Connaissance des formes (3.6/5): you must identify and honour the sectional repeats to shape reprises and phrase architecture convincingly; and Ornements baroque (3.1/5): executing quick, clean embellishments (mordents, short trills, appoggiaturas) requires controlled fingering and wrist action to keep clarity without slowing the flow. It belongs to Scarlatti’s body of keyboard sonatas from the Baroque period, representative of his explorations of idiomatic effects and hand dialogue. I do not give a performance reference here, since I am not fully confident naming a single definitive recording for this specific sonata.