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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The Sonata in B-flat major K.504 opens with a clear, leaping gesture and alternates brisk, virtuosic passagework with more lyrical episodes, creating a sprightly momentum shaped by precise articulation. You will notably need « Connaissance des formes (3.6/5) », which here means mapping and pacing repeats and formal sections so phrases answer each other clearly, and « Ornements baroque (3.1/5) », which requires executing ornaments with clean finger control and steady timing rather than as mere embellishment. As part of Scarlatti's large body of keyboard sonatas, it exemplifies late Baroque keyboard writing that balances dance-like character with technical invention. I have not given a reference recording because I am not sufficiently confident about a single definitive interpretation for this specific sonata.