It was given its world premiere by the pianist Peter Serkin and the Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis on November 26, 2003.
The composer was first drawn to Neruda's poem "Leviathan," which depicts "a huge iceberg floating on the dark Arctic sea, illuminated by flashes of soft fluorescent light."
Lieberson had also sketched second and fourth movements based on poems by T. S. Eliot and Charles Wright, but soon realized that both were not intrinsic to the flow of the piece.
The composer instead wrote a final movement inspired by Wright's poem "Dog Creek Mainline."
Lieberson recalled, "So finally I ended up with a three-movement concerto, which is what I always wanted to write, but had found my way to it through these poems.