Through the assistance of the Ontario Arts Council, Maureen Forrester commissioned the orchestration for Psalm 22 after she sang its 1980 première with Morawetz at the piano. This new version was premièred January 4th, 1984 with Andrew Davis conducting the Toronto Symphony. The unusually great response to this performance by the public and the press may be perhaps best exemplified by the opening sentence of the Toronto Star's review: "Perhaps one of the most moving moments yet experienced at Roy Thomson Hall."

The composer himself commented about his work:

Although I knew the opening line from the day I first heard, as a young student, Bach's St. Matthew Passion as the last words of Christ on the cross, I realized only in 1979 shortly before starting this composition, that these words were a quote from David's Psalm 22 from the Old Testament. I think it is one of the most moving passages of the Bible and, of course, from the musical point of view it offers a tremendous opportunity for contrasting moods - a strong belief in the absolute justice of God and, at the same time, a terrible fear that He has abandoned his people during their terrible suffering in the hands of enemies.

The composition comes to its dynamic climax, shortly before the end with the words "the foes will say, 'We have beaten him!' and all the oppressors will have the joy of seeing me stumble." Though the Psalm was written several thousand years ago, I could not help but be reminded again vividly of the suffering and fate of prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

For this composition, I used three English translations of the Bible: the Oxford, the Jerusalem and the New English Bible, selecting for each sentence the translation which seemed to me to contain the strongest words and meaning. As it was my intention to give my work a unified feeling I felt compelled to insert in the last part of my composition a few lines from other psalms (after the words "and cast lots for my clothes"). These additional verses were necessary so that I could return to the opening cry of fear and anguish: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" at the end of the composition.