The work was commissioned by the Friends of Dresden Music Foundation for the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the conductor James Levine.
It was given its world premiere on April 8, 2010, by the spousal team of the violinist Mira Wang and the cellist Jan Vogler and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Carlos Kalmar.
Of the first movement, he wrote, "Slight 'misunderstandings,' known to music theorists as cross-relationships (unnecessarily pejorative in implication — they are often beautiful) are taken to a systemic level, perhaps standing for more telling misunderstandings.
The piece offers opportunities for virtuoso display, in the rhapsodic outbursts of the opening movement and the catchy upbeat riffs of the finale, with enough interest to hold the ear.
The orchestral support is spare but sensitive, and it all ends gracefully, with a colorful splash of percussion and a light parting shot from the soloists, dispensed “col legno,’’ or with the stick of the bow.