The symphony is scored for 3 flutes (all doubling piccolos), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (1 player): bass drum, cymbals and strings.
The new symphony was completed on 25 August 1945 and received its first performance on 10 November 1945 by the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent.
[3] After an energetic and rhythmically insistent opening movement, the Adagio is a darkly mysterious ground bass with variations, in Purcellian manner.
The third movement (Presto) is a vigorous scherzo with a pavan-like trio scored for the strings.
The finale is a double fugue based on two very different, contrasting subjects, which Tippett then combines in intricate contrapuntal figuration.