38, by Samuel Barber was commissioned by the music publishing company G. Schirmer in honor of the centenary of their founding.
John Browning was the intended soloist from the outset and the concerto was written with his specific keyboard technique in mind.
According to Browning (in the liner notes for his 1991 RCA Victor recording of the Concerto with the St. Louis Symphony), the initial version of the piano part of the third movement was unplayable at performance tempo; Barber resisted reworking the piano part until Vladimir Horowitz reviewed it and also deemed it unplayable at full tempo.
He recorded it again in 1991, with the St. Louis Symphony, conducted by Leonard Slatkin on the RCA Victor Red Seal label.
It makes heavy use of the brass instruments, and is driven by the recapitulation of a brief motivic theme, giving the movement a modified rondo form.