It was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which first performed the piece under the direction of Georg Solti on March 13, 1986.
The symphony has a duration of approximately 28 minutes and is cast a single continuous movement.
Reviewing a recording of the piece, Andrew Farach-Colton of Gramophone called it "a gripping, emotionally expansive work—cast in a single movement of almost half an hour's duration—whose gestures are defiantly traditional."
He added, "Rochberg alludes here to Mahler, Wagner and Shostakovich, among others, though he somehow manages to create a unified, utterly individual style.
"[2] Anthony Burton of BBC Music Magazine was more critical, writing, "The Fifth Symphony, unheard since its premiere by the Chicago Symphony and Solti in 1986, is in a single large movement, alternating between anguished near-atonality and much more consonant slow episodes, largely in the accents of Mahler; as it progresses it settles increasingly into the slower music, a shift which feels suspiciously like a capitulation to easy listening rather than a genuine resolution of conflict.