 6 by Robert Simpson was completed in 1977 and dedicated to the renowned gynaecologist Ian Craft.It was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra who gave the premiere under Sir Charles Groves in a performance broadcast 8 April 1980.Ian Craft, the symphony dedicatee, suggested that the emergence of life from a fertilized cell could be paralleled in symphonic form, with motives developing by thematic metamorphosis.