The structure is solid and rigorous, the impact is carefully calculated, the piano elegantly and powerfully complements the orchestra. His virtuosity at the instrument is apparent in every phrase. However, the music seems typically schizophrenic, almost as if it were written by several authors. Antheil fluctuates in the piece between his own personal music, the dream music best exemplified by the Airplane Sonata and the music of his hero Stravinsky. Folk influences, and the occasional jazzy or ragtime riff fill in the gaps between major themes.
Nothing is developed.
The initial theme is stated three times, delineating the overall structure of this solidly one-movement concerto, but each time without variation. Two clear motifs from Petrouchka and references to Le Sacre might have surprised his contemporaries. The music seems calculated to showcase the extremes of the piano. He completed it while on a trip to her native Budapest. Originally Antheil himself was scheduled to be the pianist for the 1927 premiere in Paris, but he traveled instead to New York for the disastrous Carnegie Hall concert.