It was premiered on October 29, 2000 by Sylvain Cambreling and the Klangforum Wien and lasts approximately 70 minutes.

[2] in vain was commissioned by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk for Sylvain Cambreling (to whom the work is dedicated) and Klangforum Wien.

Simon Rattle has hailed in vain as "one of the first masterpieces of the 21st century",[4][5] and the Austrian newspaper Die Presse has called it a "classic".

[6] The piece was named the greatest work of art music since 2000 in a Classic Voice poll.

[7] In his 2007 book The Rest Is Noise, Alex Ross wrote that the piece "may mark a new departure in Austro-German music, joining spectral harmony to a vast Brucknerian structure".