In his early twenties, Peter Schickele was profoundly affected by a performance of Boulez's Second Piano Sonata, changing his impression of contemporary music forever. According to Schickele, these Four Pieces for Piano were "one of the earliest manifestations of that reckoning. [They] have many of the hallmarks of the so-called post-Webern style: wide skips, extreme range, and no regular beat, but, unlike Boulez's sonata, those pieces constantly flirt with old-fashioned tonality and jazzy rhythms." For advanced players.