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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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.
This Canon with sustained notes has a tense, focused character: answering lines loop like a contrapuntal clockwork rather than unfolding as a lyrical melody. Technically, pay close attention to Scales and arpeggios (4.4/5) — you will need even fingering and rhythmic precision in the sequential figures — and to Staccato (4.4/5), which demands a clean, controlled detachment so the canonic attacks remain distinct without breaking the polyphonic flow. The piece fits within Bartók's language where contrapuntal writing and compact piano textures often serve as experiments between modal folk influence and modernist technique. I do not provide a reference interpretation here because I am not fully certain of a single widely recognized recording for this specific piece.