The Book of Little Treasures is a project proposed by our brilliant publisher Sylvain Lemay. After reading through my book A Semester at Sight (DZ 2875), Sylvain suggested that we look at the possibility of extracting some of the pieces for a separate volume of short pieces. After looking through that rather large volume of material it became clear there were several categories the pieces natural fit into; original works, arrangements and transcriptions. While looking through the book I noticed the Spanish Christmas song Fum, Fum, Fum! and remembered that there was a handful of pieces I had omitted from the project because of their seasonal nature. I dug through my notes and discarded pieces and found more than a handful of Christmas songs I had arranged and abandoned. After some discussion Sylvain suggested that the series could now be published in four volumes. Volume 1: Preludes and Etudes is a collection of original short pieces; Volume 2: Songs and Dances is a set of arrangements of traditional folksongs and dances; Volume 3: Transcriptions are works and excerpts from the more traditional classical repertoire and Volume 4: Christmas is a set of pieces intended to celebrate the Christmas season. Having a chance to revisit some of this repertoire I was able to make small revisions and generally tidy the pieces up for performance. Enjoy!
