Waltz Op.12 No.2
Waltz Piano solo ~2 min
In brief

This waltz feels like a light, slightly wistful salon piece, with turning motifs that call for a conversational, singing touch between the hands rather than virtuosic display. You will need to focus on Phrasing (3.9/5) — shaping the melodic line through subtle changes in intensity and attack — and on Tempo rubato (3.9/5) — allowing small expressive time shifts without losing the internal pulse, by very slightly anticipating and yielding on strong beats. It belongs to Grieg's small-scale piano pieces, in the genre of salon waltzes and piano miniatures rather than large-scale concert works. I do not provide a reference recording here out of caution.

MusicCoach difficulty
44/100
Elementary
Likely range : 28–60/100
Confidence : 53% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
On the syllabus: Grade 4 ABRSM

Official level, taken from the exam syllabus.

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
Combined exam syllabi
Grade 4
36/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
41%
Among Edvard Grieg
40%
Era
37%
Genre
Estimated skills
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Tone
Touch control
1
Rhythm
General rhythm
1
Technique
Staccato
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.

See the whole progression