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 D minor sonata projects a tense, nervous character rather than broad melancholy: the frequent dynamic contrasts and abrupt accents require sustaining a restless energy throughout the piece. Technically, focus in particular on Style classique (3.1/5) — you must deliver clear cadences and thematic responses with crisp attack and precise durations — and Independence of the hands (2.5/5) — the left hand often provides a syncopated accompaniment while the right plays ornamental figures, demanding separate control of weight and rubato. The work belongs to the Classical period and sits within C. P. E. Bach's keyboard output, notable for its more dramatic pianistic ideas compared with earlier models. I do not give a reference performance here because I am not fully certain of a single definitive recording of this specific piece.