Scenes From A Life
Monika Gurak composer
Michael Davidson vibraphone
Emma Colette Moss piano
Scott Downing piano
Hot on the heels of her first Navona Records release, award winning composer Monika Gurak keeps the fire burning with SCENES FROM A LIFE, an album of original and personalized works for piano and vibraphone. Infused with wit and whimsy, Gurak’s 15 Humoresques deliver a lighthearted quality to the album’s first half, featuring pianists Scott Downing and Emma Collette Moss with vibraphonist Michael Davidson.
When it comes to emotion and expressive quality, Gurak leaves no stone unturned, as she allows significant timestamps in her life, unique anecdotes, and her background to resonate through her compositions. Gurak’s stories are told clearly through the piano, fostering an intimate and intriguing listening space.
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Track Listing & Credits
| # | Title | Composer | Performer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Humoresque: No. 1 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Scott Downing, piano | 0:49 |
| 02 | Humoresque: No. 2 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Scott Downing, piano | 0:59 |
| 03 | Humoresque: No. 3 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Scott Downing, piano | 0:50 |
| 04 | Humoresque: No. 4 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Scott Downing, piano | 0:52 |
| 05 | Humoresque: No. 5 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Scott Downing, piano | 1:09 |
| 06 | Humoresque: No. 6 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Scott Downing, piano | 0:48 |
| 07 | Humoresque: No. 7 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Scott Downing, piano | 1:02 |
| 08 | Humoresque: No. 8 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Emma Colette Moss, piano | 0:56 |
| 09 | Humoresque: No. 9 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Emma Colette Moss, piano | 1:26 |
| 10 | Humoresque: No. 10 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Emma Colette Moss, piano | 0:49 |
| 11 | Humoresque: No. 11 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Emma Colette Moss, piano | 0:48 |
| 12 | Humoresque: No. 12 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Emma Colette Moss, piano | 0:54 |
| 13 | Humoresque: No. 13 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Emma Colette Moss, piano | 1:15 |
| 14 | Humoresque: No. 14 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Emma Colette Moss, piano | 0:53 |
| 15 | Humoresque: No. 15 | Monika Gurak | Michael Davidson, vibraphone; Emma Colette Moss, piano | 1:23 |
| 16 | Romance Sonámbulo | Monika Gurak | Emma Colette Moss, piano; Scott Downing, piano | 3:44 |
| 17 | A Story: I. Awaiting | Monika Gurak | Scott Downing, piano | 1:51 |
| 18 | A Story: II. My Love, Are You There? | Monika Gurak | Emma Colette Moss, piano; Scott Downing, piano | 3:33 |
| 19 | A Story: III. To See You Is To Rejoice | Monika Gurak | Emma Colette Moss, piano; Scott Downing, piano | 2:36 |
| 20 | My Country: I. As If I Still Were There | Monika Gurak | Emma Colette Moss, piano; Scott Downing, piano | 2:30 |
| 21 | My Country: II. New Land | Monika Gurak | Emma Colette Moss, piano; Scott Downing, piano | 2:55 |
| 22 | My Country: III. Becoming | Monika Gurak | Emma Colette Moss, piano; Scott Downing, piano | 3:18 |
| 23 | Scenes From A Life: I. Life is a Cruise | Monika Gurak | Emma Colette Moss, piano; Scott Downing, piano | 3:18 |
| 24 | Scenes From A Life: II. Gone with the Wind | Monika Gurak | Emma Colette Moss, piano; Scott Downing, piano | 3:31 |
| 25 | Scenes From A Life: III. I'm Home | Monika Gurak | Emma Colette Moss, piano; Scott Downing, piano | 2:25 |
All tracks were recorded in June of 2021
Piano Recorded at Kingsway Lambton United Church in Toronto ON, Canada
Session Producer Jon Lillo in association with Monika Gurak
Vibraphone Recorded at Michael Davidson’s studio
Additional Audio Engineering by Jon Lillo
Photos of the woods by Wojciech Gurak
TRACKS 1 – 7
Michael Davidson vibraphone
Scott Downing piano
Mix Engineer Lucas Guyader
TRACKS 8 – 15
Michael Davidson vibraphone
Emma Colette Moss piano
Mix Engineer Lucas Guyader
TRACK 16 & 21
Emma Colette Moss piano
Scott Downing piano
Mix Engineer Jon Lillo
TRACK 17
Scott Downing piano
Mix Engineer Elias Edlund
TRACK 18 & 19
Emma Colette Moss piano
Scott Downing piano
Mix Engineer Elias Edlund
TRACK 20 & 22- 25
Emma Colette Moss piano
Scott Downing piano
Mix Engineer Harjeet Pabla
Executive Producer Bob Lord
Executive A&R Sam Renshaw
A&R Director Brandon MacNeil
A&R Danielle Lewis
General Manager of Audio & Sessions Jan Kosulic
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Patrick Niland, Sara Warner
Artist Information
Monika Gurak
An award-winning composer and songwriter, Monika Gurak graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree with honours from the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, as well as with a Master of Arts degree from the Department of Music, York University. York University additionally gave her a merit-based entrance scholarship. She also took courses in writing songs and music production at Berklee Online, where she received a certificate. In addition, Monika is an alumna of the Institute of Iberian and Ibero-American Studies, University of Warsaw.
Michael Davidson
Toronto-based vibraphonist & composer Michael Davidson has built a reputation on moving fluidly between genres, consistently defying stylistic boxes. His music has been described as “sensuously immediate, yet questing, as it is both structurally rigorous and open in poetic effect” (The Jazz Journal). Michael is an in demand collaborator across the improvised, jazz, and creative music scenes. His musical pursuits blur the lines between composition and improvisation drawing equally from jazz, free music, and classical traditions.
Emma Colette Moss
Emma Colette Moss is a Czech-Canadian composer, conductor, librettist, pianist, and educator with a passionate commitment to enhancing the accessibility of music for all audiences through these platforms. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Composition and Piano at the University of Toronto, under the guidance of artists such as Larysa Kuzmenko and Alexander Rapoport, and previously, Tanya Gernburd.
Scott Downing
Scott Downing is an active solo, collaborative, and chamber pianist in Canada and abroad. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of Toronto having studied with Henri-Paul Sicsic and Boris Lysenko. Upon graduating he received the W.O. Forsyth scholarship. From 2015-18 he earned his master’s degree in Performance at McGill University and also his graduate diploma in Performance having studied with Marina Mdivani.
Notes
This album contains humoresques for vibraphone and piano and compositions for piano four hands.
The inspiration for my compositions comes from my everyday life. I am Polish-Canadian. You can find traces of this, for example, in “My country.” Apart from being a musician, I also studied Spanish language and everything related to Iberian and Ibero-American countries at the university. Influences of that can be found, for instance, in “Romance sonámbulo”.
Humoresques are short compositions that were written as a jest. I like writing music with humour, and it makes me happy when my music brings smiles to the listeners.
I hope you enjoy my humoresques for vibraphone and piano and my compositions for piano four hands.
— Monika Gurak
