These pieces come from Prokofiev's student years, yet show remarkable maturity in style, if not always in mood and substance. As a teenager Prokofiev was already a virtuoso pianist who found need to create his own technically challenging music. He also deliberately fashioned much of it to jolt the conservative sensibilities of his audience. This imaginative and bold set was preceded by the Four Etudes, Op. 2, and Four Pieces, Op. 4, which included the popular Suggestion Diabolique (No. 4).

Worthwhile though this Op. 3 set surely is, it is the least of the three collections. The first piece, "Story," is the finest-crafted work in the group. It is a gloomy, slow piece of considerable depth, lasting just over two minutes, about the length of the other three combined. "Jest" (No. 2) is playful and bright, while "March' (No. 3) is sarcastic and brash, quite typical of many piano compositions Prokofiev was then writing. The last piece, "Phantom," is a torrent of ominous swirling sounds that erupts midway through with frenzied, nightmarish chords. All four works in this set not only contain many elements from Prokofiev's mature style, but nothing in them is derivative.

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