Vaughan Williams' 1st Symphony, entitled »A Sea Symphony,« is in the tradition of great choral symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven or Gustav Mahler. Chorus and soloists are equally challenged in all movements - and throughout. Texts by Walt Whitman inspired the English composer. Whitman describes the sea voyage as a metaphor for man's constant search for the meaning of existence. In the first three movements, the sea and the human being associated with it, descriptions of nature and maritime atmospheric images take center stage; in the fourth movement, finally, the gaze is directed toward transcendent, divine spheres.