Four Concert Rags for Organ were selected and arranged from Gerald Hendrie’s Twelve New Rags (LBMP-069). These pieces were composed in a south-facing house in a small hillside village in southwest France. From the French windows beside the desktop and digital piano, the view stretches down a tranquil valley to the distant Pyrenees, around a hundred kilometres away. It is a place of great peace and quiet.

Garden birds are a daily presence. During storms, larger birds such as raptors may drift into the valley, departing temporarily from their usual habitats nearer the mountains. Twice a year—in February and October—the calm is dramatically broken by the raw, primeval sound of migrating cranes passing overhead on their way to Scandinavia or Africa.

Another striking seasonal visitor arrives from Africa in late March: the hoopoe. With its vivid wing markings, expressive crest, and long probing beak, this small but arresting bird occasionally pauses in the garden—usually just one or two individuals at a time—on sunny days.

Around half of the rags in this collection were composed during such moments. In fact, the first hoopoe of the year appeared on the very day these words were written. This captivating bird has, in a quiet but notable way, left its mark on the Four Concert Rags, earning its place within these pages.

Composed by Gerald Hendrie