The composition of Verba Ecclesiastes begun in 2002 as a result of a comission from my friend Gary Graden. For many years I’ve found those words from the Old Testament very fascinating – as everyone knows, I’m not alone. “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!” Writers, painters and filmmakers have for centuries been dealing with the subject and I found it high time to set the famous words to music. The suite, for soloists, choir and violoncello, consists of six movements, each one enlighting a different view of life and afterlife, and also, as Matthew Arnold puts it “of human misery”. Yet the suite is full of hope and humanity, specially recognizable in the two central parts, Dulce lumen and Omnia tempus habent. The music was completed in 2009. (Michael Waldenby)