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 E minor sonata feels agitated yet dance-like, alternating sharp, percussion-like replies with singing phrases that require clear articulation and pronounced rhythmic shaping. You will face specific challenges in Connaissance des formes (3.6/5) — you must identify and highlight repeats and small thematic returns to give the piece a coherent architecture — and in Ornements baroque (3.1/5), which involve executing short, precise embellishments on the keyboard with controlled fingerwork and subtle wrist use so trills and mordents remain crisp without thickening the texture. From a factual standpoint, the sonata belongs to the Baroque period and is one of many compact, often virtuosic keyboard sonatas in Scarlatti’s output that explore bold harmonic contrasts and idiomatic keyboard effects. I do not have a specific, reliably identified recording recommendation to offer.