The work was written in 1957 for the violist Joseph de Pasquale, who first performed the piece with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on March 7, 1958.
[1][2] The concerto has a duration of roughly 20 minutes and is cast in three movements: The work is scored for a solo viola and an orchestra consisting of a piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.
The music critic Andrew Farach-Colton of Gramophone wrote, "Piston's Concerto (1957) opens pensively, quickly builds to an aching climax (beginning around 4'00") with the first movement ending almost abruptly on a note of resignation.
"[3] Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times similarly observed:The concerto, 25 minutes long, begins with a slow introduction in which the meditative viola wanders searchingly over clear-voiced modal harmonies in the orchestra.
The soulful second movement has a neo-Romantic quality, but the viola melody, enshrouded by muted strings, keeps breaking into restless, harmonically astringent digressions.