The Bird Fancyer's Delight for Piccolo Solo

The origins of these short pieces written around 1717 are a little hazy but they were written with the purpose of training caged songbirds, popular in the eighteenth century, to sing. Laurence Trott has transcribed them simply and they are all completely charming. The notes range is limited making them ideally suited to developing that all important cantabile colour in the piccolo's lower registers, and the absence of any challenging finger work concentrates that focus on sound. Played as a whole group, these lovely vignettes are a welcome change from all the hustle and bustle normally associated with the solo piccolo repertoire and would be something completely different in any recital.