It was composed from January through July 2012 and premiered September 28, 2012 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, with conductor Gustavo Dudamel leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
[3] The symphony has a duration of approximately twenty minutes and is composed in four connected movements: Stucky had previously written four other symphonies, but has since withdrawn all of them, saying, "I wrote two when I was a little boy, and I have no idea what unholy mash-up those were.
Then I wrote a symphony when I was a senior in college, and then one for my doctoral thesis, and I'm sure those have been completely expunged from the record."
[5] Reviewing the New York City premiere, Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times praised the accessibility of the Symphony and called it "a fairly modest piece, a 20-minute, colorfully orchestrated work in four parts, played without break."
Despite giving the piece an overall positive review, Tommasini nevertheless opined, "Mr. Stucky perhaps achieved his goal of writing a graspable symphony too well.