Piano Sonata no. 3, op. 36, M38
Romantic Sonata Piano solo 16 min
In brief

The piece projects sustained lyrical tension, with sharp contrasts between dense, driving textures and singing moments that require shaping and energy rather than mere flashy virtuosity. Connaissance des formes (3.6/5): you must conceive the sonata in large sections, mark reprises and adjust breaths and dynamics so developments and recapitulations keep a clear trajectory; Analyse harmonique (3.6/5): the modal and chromatic progressions call for careful chord reading and voicing, with fingers ready to redistribute voices and refine harmonic accents. Written in the Romantic idiom, the sonata is a significant work in the composer's piano output, illustrating his late-Romantic language and formal concerns.

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Is this the right work?
MusicCoach difficulty
80/100
Master repertoire
Likely range : 68–92/100
Confidence : 35% · 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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Relative difficulty
95%
Among Karol Szymanowski
92%
Era Romantic
92%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Theory
Harmonic analysis
2
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Technique
Fast passages
1
What to play next?

Each suggestion combines difficulty gap, risk, confidence and skill overlap. The first two cards in each column are the most useful pedagogically.

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