Composed mainly during the summer of 1978, and commissioned by the John Currie Singers (with Arts Council funds) this work was first performed in Glasgow in early 1979, and has since been given in Canada and the USA. It is asetting of quite large sections of the Song of Songs and the authorised version was chosen not because of its accuracy, which is often doubtful, but because of the beauty of the language and the power of its associations.