MusicCoach difficulty
60/100
Intermediate
Level of the complete work
We have no level specific to this movement. The figure above is that of the complete work: within a cycle, movements often differ widely in demand.
Estimated skills
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
1
Style
Baroque style
1
Style
Impressionist style
1
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Technique
Two-voice polyphony
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.
Gentle step
The safest next step.
Gentle
Yearning: The Mystery of the Sighs, suite
Jean Sibelius
close skills
low risk
to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). The skill that will carry the work: Style baroque and Ornements baroque — the notes are not enough: articulation and ornaments follow performance conventions best checked in an urtext edition.
Gentle
Les belles américaines, suite of waltzes
Jacques Offenbach
close skills
low risk
to confirm
A short step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus and Style baroque — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced step
A genuine step up, without a jolt.
Balanced
Fra Holbergs tid, for piano, op. 40, "Holberg Suite"
Edvard Grieg
close skills
moderate risk
to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus and Style baroque — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Balanced
Florestan, suite, JS 82
Jean Sibelius
close skills
moderate risk
to confirm
A real step up, staying in Intermediate (around grade 6 ABRSM/RCM). New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus and Style baroque — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Ambitious challenge
A useful leap with guided practice.
Challenge
Contes de fées, suite, op. 86
Vincent d'Indy
close skills
high risk
to confirm
An ambitious leap into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus and Demi-pédale — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Challenge
Clair de lune (Suite bergamasque No.3)
Claude Debussy
close skills
high risk
to confirm
An ambitious leap into Advanced (around grade 7 ABRSM/RCM) — only worth starting if the practice time is really there. New compared with the previous piece: Voix chantante and Balance mains — the notes will be secure long before the musical line: work in whole phrases, singing the main voice.
Same level
Same level
3-Part Inventions, BWV.787-801
Johann Sebastian Bach
partial transfer
low risk
to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Indépendance des mains and Style baroque — practise it slowly and hands separately before any attempt at tempo: that is where tension builds up.
Same level
Mazurka, L.67
Claude Debussy
partial transfer
low risk
to confirm
Equivalent demands, still Intermediate (around grade 5 ABRSM/RCM): what changes is the ground. What changes is the skill in play: Rythmes pointés and Staccato — the pitfall is the pulse drifting as soon as the writing thickens: subdivide with the metronome.
This Menuet has a poised, contrapuntal lightness: you must make the melody sing while keeping rhythmic clarity appropriate to an old dance, avoiding heavy romanticism. You will notably face Style baroque (4.1/5), which here requires crisp attacks and short phrase relaunches to bring out imitative motifs, and Ornaments baroque (4.1/5), which demand precise alternation of fingering and touch so trills and appoggiaturas stay light yet expressive. This is the third movement of Debussy’s Petite Suite (L.65, CD 71a), part of his early works that revisit and reinterpret older dance forms.