Schnabel's legacy is forever entwined with his performances of the Beethoven Piano Concerti, for which he is justly praised. His concert schedule and his focus on classical and romantic repertoire were at direct odds with his passion for composition, wherein he often strayed from his primary instrument and dove into the more radical idioms that he would develop over a lifetime. In Seven Piano Pieces, we see a cycle of alternating slow and fast miniatures, the finale of which recapitulates the whole.