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Play — Marc-André Hamelin performs Debussy: "Feux d'artifice" from Preludes, Book 2 · The 92nd Street Y, New York
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Play — Feux d'artifice · Claude Debussy, Ivan Moravec
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MusicCoach difficulty
93/100
Master repertoire
Likely range : 88–97/100
Confidence : 62% · fair confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
Beyond grade 8
The grade scale stops at 8; this work belongs to concert or diploma repertoire.
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.
Does this rating look right to you?
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.
Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
9
95/100 normalised · 3 obs.
MusicCoach consensus
90.0
90/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
100%
Among Claude Debussy
Estimated skills
Style
Impressionist style
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Technique
Fast passages
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.
Gentle step
The safest next step.
Gentle
Fantasy and Fugue on the Chorale Ad nos, ad salutarem undam, S.624, R.314
Franz Liszt
98/100
+5 pts
9-18 weeks
new reflexes
low risk
to confirm
A short step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Analyse harmonique and Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Gentle
Sonata in G major, K.455, L.209
Domenico Scarlatti
98/100
+5 pts
9-18 weeks
new reflexes
low risk
to confirm
A short step up, staying in Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8). New compared with the previous piece: Connaissance des formes and Style baroque — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Balanced step
A genuine step up, without a jolt.
Ambitious challenge
A useful leap with guided practice.
Same level
Same level
Hungarian Rhapsody no. 12
Franz Liszt
92/100
-1 pts
7-10 weeks
partial transfer
low risk
to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Ornements romantiques and Passages rapides — ornaments must be secure before the piece goes up to tempo, otherwise they break the line instead of decorating it.
Same level
Sonata no. 3 in B minor, op. 58
Frédéric Chopin
91/100
-2 pts
7-10 weeks
new reflexes
low risk
to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Connaissance des formes and Passages rapides — understand the form and the harmony before memorising, or memory collapses the moment you play for someone.
Same level
3 Studies, op. 18, BB81, Sz.72
Béla Bartók
90/100
-3 pts
6-9 weeks
new reflexes
low risk
to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Great repertoire (diploma level, beyond grade 8): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Gammes et arpèges and Style moderne et contemporain — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
See the whole progression
Feux d'artifice unfolds a bright, sharply contrasted character, alternating percussive attacks with brief flashes of harmonic color that feel like short sonic explosions rather than an extended reverie. Technically, you will need to focus on Nuances (2.5/5) by refining finger and arm pressure control to deliver those sudden contrasts without losing clarity, and on Passages rapides (2.5/5) which demand precise finger articulation and economy of wrist movement to maintain both clarity and forward drive. The title and scoring indicate this is a solo piano piece, and the provided information lists the period as unknown, so approach it without assuming a fixed stylistic placement in Debussy's catalogue. I do not provide a reference recording here because I am not 100% confident about a definitive interpretation for this specific piece.