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 C minor sonata feels brisk and incisive, alternating playful, jumping figures with darker episodes that call for crisp articulation and contained energy rather than long lyrical lines. You will need to focus notably on Connaissance des formes (3.6/5) to honour the sections and repeats — this means sensing the binary structure, placing cadences and varying emphasis on repeats — and on Ornements baroque (3.1/5), where precise execution of mordents and short embellishments requires quick finger attacks combined with fine wrist control. It is part of Domenico Scarlatti's large body of short keyboard sonatas, typically written for the instrument's agility and contrasts. I do not give a reference recording because I am not fully certain of a single canonical interpretation for this specific sonata.