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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The safest next step.
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A useful leap with guided practice.
This Capriccio in D minor has a restless, driven character, switching between sharp, urgent figures and more restrained episodes that require sustained tension without losing the line. You will notably face Phrasing (2.5/5), which here means shaping short motifs as small breaths — emphasize the rise then let the voice fall without crushing the accompaniment — and Hand Independence (2.5/5) because the left often maintains an obstinate counter-rhythm while the right carries accents and syncopations; the concrete gesture is to keep the left-hand pulse steady while shifting weight and articulation in the right. The piece belongs to the set of piano miniatures of Op.116, part of Brahms's late piano output, reflecting his taste for concision and harmonic density in solo piano pieces.