Search - Swartz, Gemmell :: Le Jardin des Paons - The Garden of Peacocks - featuring Otoorino Respighi, Andrew Creeggan, John Thomas, Bernard Andrs, Caroline Lizotte and Eric Clapton

Music for two harps, by Respighi, Andrés, Creeggan, Eric Clapton, and
Andy Creeggan (founding keyboard player of Barenaked Ladies).
Jennifer Swartz is principal harp of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal;
Lori Gemmell is principal with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra.
Jennifer and Lori first played together in 1999 with the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, in Paris, no less, but their story starts years before. They both studied
with Judy Loman and have been friends since they were teenagers. Each
maintains a full schedule as soloist and chamber musician; Swartz teaches at
McGill University in Montreal, Gemmell at Wilfrid Laurier University in
Waterloo. Lori and Jennifer are honoured to be the first to record Raga, by their beloved friend Caroline Lizotte. They're thrilled to be stretching the harp duo repertoire
by commissioning new pieces like Going West, by Andy Creeggan, and to be loosening the boundaries between classical and pop music with arrangements
like Eric Clapton's Signe, by Kevin Fox. They recorded this music in the midst of a Montreal snowstorm that cancelled concerts and stopped traffic. It also wrapped the studio in a profound peace that was perfect for music-making. Produced, recorded and edited by Johanne Goyette at the Salle Pierre Mercure
(Centre Pierre-Péladeau), Montréal (Québec), Canada, 19-21 December, 2007