Piano Sonata no. 8, op. 66. Lento - Allegro agitato
Sonata Piano solo 14 min
In brief

The Lento opening leading into an Allegro agitato produces a nervous, taut character, with percussive outbursts that interrupt a veiled melodic line and demand constant shifts between tension and release. Technically, expect to work on Octaves (2.5/5) — here you must control evenness, touch and wrist relaxation to maintain projection without tension — and General technique (2.5/5), meaning management of contrasting attacks and quick accompaniment figures while keeping inner voices clear. In the composer's catalogue the sonata stands among his piano sonatas and reflects a mature stage of his pianistic writing. I do not have a recording or performer reference I can cite with certainty for this specific work.

MusicCoach difficulty
86/100
Master repertoire
Likely range : 74–98/100
Confidence : 38% · to confirm
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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Relative difficulty
92%
Among Александр Николаевич Скрябин
99%
Era
98%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Style
Character and style
1
Technique
Octaves
1
Technique
Fast passages
1
Technique
General technique
1
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