Its title refers to Golestan ("Rose Garden"), a collection of poems and stories by 13th-century Persian poet and writer Sa'di.
Much of the piece uses series of diatonic chords (usually broken and heard in the lower registers), with the main ones having F, F-sharp, A or C as the root note, while the middle voices present chant-like melodies and the upper ones use chromatic figurations.
Pianist and composer Jonathan Powell, discussing Sorabji's nocturnes, calls it "arguably his most successful essay in the genre".
[3] Pianist Michael Habermann describes it as a "superb, luscious piece",[8] and musicologist Simon John Abrahams opines that it stands out among Sorabji's works "due to the remarkable integration of the texture and figuration, as well as the richness of the harmony".
[11] Sorabji himself produced a private recording of the piece in 1962, which is considered more of an improvisation based on the score, given the liberties he took in his performance.