*Three Contemporary Bird Songs* for Soprano (voice) and Recorder. Features simultaneous multi instrument (descant & sopranino) performance.

1. I Watched a Blackbird
2. The Darkling Thrush
3. Proud Songsters

Hand’s Three Bird Songs (Op. 259) for soprano voice, recorder and piano, set poems by Thomas Hardy: ‘I watched a Blackbird’, ‘The Darkling Thrush’ and ‘Proud Songsters’. 

The composer Colin Hand died aged 86 on 6 August 2015. He showed an early interest in music and played the viola in his school orchestra, it was as biochemist that he initially studied. However, he was eventually drawn to music again, studied the organ with Dr Melville Cook and received a MusB from Trinity College, Dublin. Many recorder players will be familiar with his music. The Fenland Suite and Hallam Suite, both for recorder quartet, are justly popular ensemble pieces, but solo works such as Sonata piccola, Petite suite champêtre and Plaint have also become established works in the recorder repertoire.  Andrew Mayes

Score: 16 pages. 1 part @ 3 pages.