He was awarded the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for Music for the piece.
[1] Premiered December 2, 1955 by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by William Steinberg, it was commissioned by the American Jewish Tercentenary Committee of Chicago.
[2][3] The orchestration includes a "hisser", a carbon dioxide tank that makes a hissing noise, whose use is optional.
[3] His first three symphonies were inspired by his need to flee Nazi Germany and move to America.
[3] Selecting the piece the jury wrote: "one of his finest works, of sure craftsmanship, contemporary in feeling, without self-conscious striving for the new and the original, beautiful and brilliant in orchestral sound.