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 D major sonata projects a lively, skipping character with crisp rhythmic clarity that calls for light articulation and quick, clean accents rather than a heavy Romantic approach. You'll face specific technical challenges in Connaissance des formes (3.6/5) and Analyse harmonique (3.6/5): the former requires mapping repeats and internal sections so you can shape phrases and breaths correctly, the latter requires anticipating harmonic progressions to manage tension and resolution between the right and left hands. From the Baroque period, the sonata belongs to Scarlatti's large body of keyboard sonatas where he experiments with harmonic turns and nimble virtuosity. I do not give a recommended recording because I prefer not to cite a reference unless I can do so with complete certainty.