[1][2] However, its sense of space, "less architectural than that of the previous symphonies, is a significant new departure, allowing a more relaxed attitude toward musical objects: closer to the Mahlerian aesthetic than at any time since the 1960s".

[4] The symphony is scored for 2 flutes (second doubling alto flute), piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, double bassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (marimba, glockenspiel, crotales, flexatone, 2 bass drums [small and large], cymbals, suspended cymbal, tambourine), celesta, harp, and strings.

[1] The Symphony is based on material from Davies's 1993 youth-orchestra composition Chat Moss, which in turn is derived from two plainchants, the Easter gradual "Haec dies" and the Good Friday tract "Domine audivi" from Habakkuk 3:3.

[6] It begins with an expansive adagio introduction, followed by music of great energy, characterised by an alternation of stable and unstable episodes.

The succeeding faster music reaches a first climax in a Davies hallmark of ascending brass figures with powerful, sustained tritones in the horns that forecast a bigger climax to come, an affirmational brass theme at rehearsal Q2 which "seems to rise as if from the sea, magnifying the fragile flute melody heard at N2 into sudden immensity".