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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This rating is computed automatically from heterogeneous sources. It gets things wrong, sometimes badly. If you know this work, your answer is worth more than our computation: it tells us which ratings to review.
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.
The piece has a tense, angular character, driven by tight figurations and abrupt dynamic contrasts that create a sense of dark urgency rather than a singing line. Technically, you will face notably the Doubles notes (5.0/5), which here require very precise finger articulation and coordination — synchronizing paired fingers while keeping the hand relaxed to avoid crushing the tone — and the Octaves (5.0/5), which demand secure jumps and controlled forearm and wrist movement to maintain evenness and endurance in repeated strikes. This étude belongs to Chopin’s Op. 25 set, placing it within his sequence of technical studies that complement Op. 10 and explore refined pianistic problems. I do not provide a reference recording here because I am not fully certain of a single definitive interpretation to recommend for this specific work.