It was given its world premiere by the New York Philharmonic under the conductor Alan Gilbert at Avery Fisher Hall on April 26, 2012.
[1] Allan Kozinn of The New York Times gave the Concerto for Orchestra modest praise, writing:Mr. Neikrug seemed intent on putting every one of the orchestra's sections and subsections in the spotlight, sometimes for brief bursts within a stream of morphing timbres, often for extended, shapely passages in a style that oscillated between neo-Romanticism and Impressionism.
He seemed especially engaged by the possibilities for percussionists, and when they were not featured on their own, they were combined with woodwinds and brasses or jangled beneath suave string lines.
Kozinn nevertheless added:But having focused so thoroughly on putting the musicians on display, Mr. Neikrug neglected the other part of a composer's job, which is to say something memorable.
Without a strong thematic thread — think of the high-profile themes in Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra — even virtuosity eventually pales.