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Play — Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 26, Op. 81a "Les Adieux": I. Das Lebewohl. Adagio - Allegro (Live) · Evgeny Kissin - Topic (the player loads on click)
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Play — Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-Flat Major, Op. 81a "Les adieux": I. Das Lebewohl. Adagio – Allegro · Ludwig van Beethoven, Wilhelm Kempff (the player loads on click)
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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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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.
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 sonata opens with an atmosphere of departure and contained tension, moving from a mournful Adagio to an Allegro where urgency mixes with a certain bitterness, calling for a gradual build of intensity rather than showy effects. Technically, the listed skill “Style classique (4.4/5)” here requires very clear articulation and contrasted key attack to honor short dynamic profiles and thematic exchanges, and “Phrasing (4.4/5)” demands shaping long, breath-like lines and keeping the melody prominent over often fragmented accompaniment — gestures that involve precise attacks, controlled legato, and fine adjustment of hand weight. Historically, the piece sits at the crossroads of Classicism and Romanticism and holds a notable place among Beethoven’s piano sonatas because of its programmatic character related to the idea of farewell.