The work was written with specific members of the RPO in mind, and is dedicated to the memory of the poet George Mackay Brown, who died on the day the symphony was completed.

The symphony sets out at the beginning from a slow Australian aboriginal tune, as reworked in Davies's Time and the Raven, composed the previous year, and returns to it at the end.

[2] The symphony is scored for piccolo, two flutes (2nd doubling alto flute), two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, double bassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, five percussionists (playing glockenspiel, crotales, marimba, two wood blocks, tambourine, side drum, two bass drums, two suspended cymbals, crash cymbals, rain sticks), harp, celesta, and strings.

[3] The opening Aboriginal-derived theme is clearly centred on E, and after wandering into other areas, the movement settles back onto E at the end, with one of the secondary pitches, B, above it.

Like the other two, it begins with an introduction, only briefer this time, followed by transformations now attempting to reconcile everything from the diverse elements of the first and second movements.