David Swan is one of Canada’s most gloriously fluent and musical pianists. I was fortunate to perform with him for a few years, and record two albums together (Ever After with Prokofiev Sonata and Notes From Abroad). We played 4 Love Songs by Mathieu Lussier on this album. David was playing from a pencilled chord sheet, improvising his part, so if I made an error, we had to do a complete retake just because David made up new beauties every time. After a few years, Mathieu took pity on pianists and created a published version (linked above).

I am playing my former black Heckel #13479 in these two works. Such a lithe and supple bassoon, you can hear the influence of my decade as second bassoon with the Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal… very musical yet very contained and highly civilized to the point of almost being restrained (imagine!). I now explore far greater ranges of colour and expression, yet I enjoy hearing my work from these earlier days.