The English composer Clive Strutt (b.1942) has for a considerable time been interested in 道家; Dàojiā - the philosophical rather than the religious stream of Taoism, and these 14 songs clearly reflect this. When asked about them he had this the say: “Taoism as a Way of Life has been an inspiration for much poetry in ancient China. The suitability for setting to music of such poems depends to a great extent on the quality of the English translation, and it is surprising the extent to which such quality can vary with different translators. I found John Blofeld’s English translations (as used in this work) extremely sympathetic, but it is possible to find appallingly poor translations – indeed doggerel –from some authors.   The scoring is for the solo tenor voice, with five accompanying instruments: violin, cello, flute, oboe and wind-chimes. This particular ensemble was chosen – two stringed instruments, one percussion and two woodwind – to provide the maximum variety of timbres within a small ensemble. Strings can be played with the bow, or the strings plucked. Bowing also includes the technique of playing harmonics, and tone qualities can be varied with the use of a mute, the positioning of the bow close to the bridge (sul ponticello), or nearer to the fingerboard (sul tasto), and also by the technique of tremolando. Having both a cello and violin gives the greatest range of pitches. And four-note spread chords are also readily available, as well as two-note chords on adjacent strings which can be sustained (rather than spread). The wind-chimes enable an exotic atmosphere to be suggested: Taoist poetry often refers to the wind.    With the woodwind I felt it essential to have a flute, which instrument is frequently mentioned in Taoist poetry, and was commonly found in Taoist circles. The oboe, by contrast, has a quite different tone quality from the flute, and provides a useful contrast in the context of such sparse scoring.” The songs are organised into eight sections around the 八仙, Bāxiān (Eight Immortals).