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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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.
Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in D minor has a contemplative yet taut character, built from recurring motifs that alternate lyrical breaths with taut counterpoint. You will be especially challenged by the skill “Polyphony for three voices or more (4.4/5)”, which here requires precise finger control to bring out independent lines and shifting accents without blurring the voices, and by “Knowledge of forms (4.5/5)”, which demands shaping the large-scale arc across the prelude and fugue to handle returns and transitions through touch and pacing. The piece belongs to Glazunov's Romantic period output and is part of his solo piano repertoire where contrapuntal technique meets a post‑Romantic language. I do not give a reference recording because I am not certain of a single, widely acknowledged interpretation for this specific work.