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.
This four-voice fugue in G minor has a tense, contrapuntal character: the incisive subject migrates through registers and produces voice crossings that call for crisp articulation rather than blurring with excessive pedal. The main technical challenges are harmonic analysis (4.4/5) and managing polyphony of three or more voices (4.4/5) — you will need to map modulations and harmonic links to anticipate resolutions, and most importantly keep each line independent by clear fingering and subtle dynamic control so subject and countersubjects remain distinct. The piece belongs to the Romantic period and illustrates how Grieg applied contrapuntal forms with the personal coloration and intimacy found in his piano oeuvre.