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 feels bright and virtuosic, alternating brilliant figurations with more singing episodes that require rhythmic precision and clarity in the right hand to bring out the motifs. You will notably face demands in Harmonic analysis (3.6/5): following the tonal shifts and points of tension helps you anticipate resolutions and shape dynamics and articulation to clarify lines, and Bass-clef reading (3.1/5): the left hand requires confident reading of bass notes and quick jumps to maintain a steady bass while preserving the clarity of inner voices. As a baroque keyboard sonata, it belongs to Scarlatti's large output of sonatas that probe the contrast between virtuosic figuration and lyrical gestures. I do not provide a reference recording here out of caution, since I cannot assert with complete certainty a single definitive interpretation.