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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This rating is computed automatically from heterogeneous sources. It gets things wrong, sometimes badly. If you know this work, your answer is worth more than our computation: it tells us which ratings to review.
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 D major sonata feels lively and bright, driven by short phrases and quick leaps that require clear articulation and a steady pulse to maintain forward motion. Two technical points stand out for practice: Connaissance des formes (3.6/5), which here means identifying the binary sections and rehearsing the repeats and transitions so phrases are shaped coherently, and Ornements baroque (3.1/5), which requires precise, fast fingerwork and subtle wrist placement to execute appoggiaturas and trills cleanly without breaking the line. From a contextual point of view, it belongs to the Baroque period and is part of Scarlatti’s substantial body of keyboard sonatas, notable for their concision and formal clarity. I do not provide a reference interpretation because I am not fully certain of a specific recording for this particular sonata.