Rondo in D minor, H.290, Wq.61, no. 4
Classical Rondo Piano solo 4 min
In brief

This rondo in D minor feels lively yet tense, alternating galant main subjects with darker contrasting episodes that call for incisive articulation and a sense of dramatic relief rather than long lyrical lines. You should focus especially on Connaissance des formes (3.1/5) to mark and balance the theme returns and short contrasting episodes, and on Style classique (3.1/5) which here requires a light detached touch, clear attacks, and precise agogic shaping to let the short phrases breathe. The piece belongs to the Classical period and fits among C. P. E. Bach’s salon-style works that bridge baroque expressivity and classical clarity. I do not provide a recommended recording because I am not fully certain of a single widely acknowledged reference for this exact work.

MusicCoach difficulty
54/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 42–66/100
Confidence : 35% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 6

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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Relative difficulty
71%
Among Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
72%
Era Classical
32%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Style
Classical style
1
Technique
Legato
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
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.

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