It was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Lorin Maazel.
Its premiere was given on 9 April 2008, by the Chinese pianist Lang Lang and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin in Avery Fisher Hall, New York City.
[1] It is scored for two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombone, one tuba, timpani, four percussion, harp, and strings.
"[2] It requires that the pianist uses its fingers, palms, fists, and forearms to play the piece,[3] therefore the pianist was described as a "martial artist of the keyboard".
[4] It was well received by critics and described as a "mishmash of genres".