He described its composition in the score program notes, writing, "I soon realized that it could not be a regular piano concerto because it would not give equal prevalence to both performers.
Reviewing the world premiere, Jeremy Eichler of The Boston Globe wrote, "As you might expect in a Carter work, the traditional model of the Romantic piano concerto is tossed out the window in favor of something more fractured and, quite purposefully, more evenhanded in the interplay between soloist and orchestra."
He added:Cast in one movement roughly 15 minutes long, the music is full of surprisingly lyrical string writing - by Carter's standards - with frequent interruptions from the piano, which then holds court with pointy, eruptive figuration or big, iridescent chords.
"[5] Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times called it "a feisty score" and said it made a performance of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring "anticlimactic" by comparison.
He also wrote of Carter, "The world has never known such an artist, one who has reached 100 prolifically making vibrant work for which the wisdom of experience is employed to produce new sensations.