Violin Sonata, op. 134
Modern Sonata Violin and Piano
In brief

This violin sonata has a tense, incisive character, switching between biting episodes and lyrical passages that call for clear articulation rather than mere sentiment. You will need to work precisely on Vibrato (3.6/5) — used here to color sustained notes and requiring careful amplitude control so it doesn't obscure the line — and on Bowed Legato (Legato d'archet) (3.6/5), which demands managing bow distribution from frog to tip and smoothing direction changes to preserve long phrases. It belongs to the composer's modern period and sits within his chamber music output for violin and piano, characterized by compact, often contrapuntal writing. I do not provide performance reference recordings here out of caution.

Formation

Violin and piano · 2 performers

Required forces
Violin 1 performers
Piano 1 performers
Playable parts
Violin Piano
MusicCoach difficulty
84/100
Master repertoire
Likely range : 77–91/100
Confidence : 47% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 8

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.

Where this work sits
050100

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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Difficulty sources
MusicCoach expertise
80
80/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
83%
Among Dmitri Shostakovich
96%
Era Modern
99%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Technique
Bow legato
1
Rhythm
Polyrhythm 2 against 3
1
Style
Modern and contemporary style
1
Tone
Vibrato
2
Technique
Position changes
1
Tone
Touch control
1
Technique
Intonation
1
Technique
Legato
1
Technique
Fast passages
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Style
Impressionist style
2
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