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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The safest next step.
A genuine step up, without a jolt.
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This C minor sonata (Allegro non tanto) has a pointed, contrapuntal drive, with brisk exchanges between harmonic planes and rhythmic motifs that call for clarity rather than lushness. The challenges include Phrasing (2.5/5) — you will need to shape short, quick phrases without flattening them — and Hand independence (2.5/5), requiring you to keep contrapuntal lines distinct and well balanced when the right hand converses with the left. The period of the work is given as unknown in the provided information, and it appears among Johann Kuhnau's keyboard sonatas. I do not suggest a reference recording here because I cannot be fully certain of a widely recognized interpretation for this specific sonata.