A Garden of Bells

Category : Schafer Scrolling Scores
Dec. 6, 2020 at 12:00 a.m. PST

"A garden is a place where nature is cultivated. It is a humanized treatment of landscape. Trees, fruit, flowers, grass are sculpted organically from the wilderness by art and science... A true garden is a feast for all the senses." - R. Murray Schafer


This piece received widespread acclaim when it was toured both in Canada and internationally in the early '70s. Conductor Jon Washburn always told audiences to imagine they were in a beautiful soniferous garden, where instead of flowers, there were bells of different shapes and sizes. As you walked through the garden, the bells would ring and produce a wonderful melody.