Tower described the composition in the score program note, writing:In every sense, Concerto for Orchestra is my biggest work to date.
Although technically demanding, the virtuoso sections are an integral part of the music, resulting from accumulated energy, rather than being designed purely as display elements.
I thus resisted the title Concerto for Orchestra (with its connotations of Bartók, Lutoslawski, and Husa), and named the work only after the composing was completed, and even then reluctantly.
Peter G. Davis of New York called it "a colorful and engaging piece that will surely take its place beside the composer's much-played Sequoia and Silver Ladders."
He added, "Although it lacks a catchy title, the one-movement score generates a similar sort of musical imagery, even if the basic idea is rather more abstract: a half-hour trip through a large landscape in which constantly changing musical shapes and gestures suggest a time span spent traversing great spaces and long distances.