It was completed in early 1988 and premiered August 18, 1988, with conductor Thomas Nee leading the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra.
[1] Loon Lake has a duration of roughly 26 minutes and is composed in two movements: The symphony is scored for a small orchestra comprising piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, two French horns, two trumpets, trombone, percussionist on timpani and chimes, harp, and strings.
William Yeoman of Gramophone praised Loon Lake, writing, "Here, songs both avian and pastoral for a multitude of wind soloists punctuate a luminous, if occasionally overcast, orchestral skyscape.
Most of the time is taken up by the second movement, a sort of rondo in which arabesques for woodwinds flecked by Hovhaness' characteristic bell sounds alternate with a model hymn straight out of Vaughan Williams' Tallis Fantasia.
Eventually, these two elements begin to intermingle, but it takes an awfully long time, and each listener will have to decide if the music overstays its welcome.