After experiencing one of these events, one of Endo's characters writes: "I cannot bear the monotonous sound of the dark sea gnawing at the shore.
[1]The composition also includes a musical allusion to the prelude from Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold.
[1] The work is scored for an orchestra comprising two flutes, alto flute (doubling piccolo), two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, four percussionists (playing marimba, tuned gongs, 5 temple blocks, snare drum, suspended cymbal, glockenspiel, steel drums, bass drum, crotales, tubular bells, 3 heavy metal bars, 2 congas, 2 timbales, medium tam-tam, cencerros, vibraphone, large tam-tam and thunder sheet), harp, piano, and strings.
[1] Roger Thomas of BBC Music Magazine lauded the symphony, writing, "The work is a hauntingly ambivalent study at both the musical and philosophical levels, with themes and textures arising seemingly from their own absence, interacting and developing, then being allowed to return to their origins.
"[2] David Nice of The Arts Desk was more critical, however, remarking that the work "sounded like an unwieldy impersonation of the monumental.