Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. PGMaudio – the label started, owned and run by Canadian composer, laptop performer and sound engineer Piotr Grella-Możejko [pron. Pyotr Grella-Mozheyko] – is proud to announce Zuzana Šimurdová’s CD, Vertical Landscapes, whose programme centres on the works for piano solo by Canadian women composers. One of Canada’s outstanding promoters of New Classical Music, Zuzana has commissioned and performed a number of new works. This CD marks her album-length tribute to the compositional talent and expressive richness of music by Canadian women. It comprises works by eleven composers representing various sources of inspiration, techniques, and styles.

Zuzana Šimurdová [pron. Zuzana Schimurdova] is an award-winning pianist who has given solo and chamber concerts across Europe, the US, Canada, China, Russia and South Korea. She made her first radio appearance at the age of 9, after winning 4 prizes at the Young Composers Competition in Ostrava in her native Czech Republic. She began her international career as a laureate of the UNESCO Awards in Paris for her interpretation of the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1, followed by First prize at the International Music Competition in London and the Janáček First Prize at the International Piano Masterclasses Competition ‘Prague-Vienna-Budapest’. Šimurdová is fascinated by classical and contemporary music, having premiered numerous Canadian and European works. Together with her husband, pianist Mikolaj Warszynski, she gave the Canadian premiere of Claude Vivier’s Désintégration, as well as a series of premieres of contemporary music for two pianos, for which they received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Her new CD, Vertical Landscapes, is a manifest example of Zuzana’s sophisticated yet inclusive approach to the music she plays. Without favouring any particular style and technique, she simply focuses on the works, that appeal to her regardless of their origin and pedigree. They may come from younger and lesser-known composers, or, on the contrary, from the composers who already have left indelible mark on today’s music. Vertical Landscapes offers a fascinating review of Canadian piano music composed within four decades from the 1980s (Alexina Louie’s Music for Piano) to the 2020s (the most recent piece in the collection being Terri Hron’s Memories of Trees). The CD is titled after the two-movement cycle by the distinguished composer and pedagogue, Joan Hansen (1941-2021). The other works appearing on the CD are by Maria Thompson Corley, Christine Donkin, Kristin Flores, Alice Ping Yee Ho, Melissa Hui, Linda Caitlin Smith, Ana Sokolović, and Karen Sunabacka.

With Vertical Landscapes Zuzana Šimurdová takes you on a unique journey, which is as aesthetically satisfying as it is emotionally fulfilling.

Zuzana Šimurdová would like to thank the following sponsors:

Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Czechoslovak Society for Arts and Sciences
Mazurka Music and Art Society
PGMaudio
Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies

FROM THE PIANIST

This CD is dedicated to Canadian women in music. Canadian history is reflected in a deep admiration and respect for Nature. In some of the works we perceive manifest celebration of natural elements, but also metaphysical reflection upon Life and its ultimate outcome. This creates strength, understanding and positive human connections. In Canada, Nature has had a huge impact on artists in general and composers in particular. The feeling of strong bond with Nature and Cosmos, the astonishment stemming from being part of the Universe, is heard clearly in the music featured on Vertical Landscapes.

I was exploring these tropes, trying to find pieces whose emotional impact would make me – and hopefully the listeners – respond deeply, seriously, and, at the same time, positively. During my search and research, I made a list of compositions which would be close to the ideal, that I had envisioned. In the end, I compiled a list of compositions from different provinces across Canada. Selecting the pieces was made easier and more pleasant by accessing the immense database of Canadian works managed by the Canadian Music Centre. In my opinion, each composition has a unique story and, moreover, the composers themselves come from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, yet united by their similar personal and artistic values focussing on attaining and emanating inner peace, even in anguish.