Poissons d'or
Piano solo 4 min
In brief

This piece suggests shimmering touches and aquatic arabesques, like changing reflections on the water’s surface rather than long sung lines. You will specifically face the skill « Passages rapides (2.5/5) », which requires relaxed, nimble fingers to execute short runs without tension, and the skill « Legato (2.5/5) », which demands careful touch and weight control to maintain continuity of the lines. It belongs to Debussy’s piano repertoire and fits among his short character pieces that favor color and suggestion over symphonic development. I do not give a reference recording here, out of caution.

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MusicCoach difficulty
77/100
Advanced
Likely range : 61–93/100
Confidence : 55% · fair confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 8

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.

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.

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Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
8
85/100 normalised · 2 obs.
Relative difficulty
93%
Among Claude Debussy
94%
Era
Genre
Estimated skills
Style
Impressionist style
1
Technique
Legato
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.

See the whole progression