Juan Mar�a Solare: Numbered Places (eleven piano pieces)



01 - One Way Flight to... (2:50)

02 - Twopenny Loaf [USA] (3:45)

03 - Three Bridges [UK] (2:25)

04 - Four Oaks [USA] (3:00)

05 - Five Pointz [NYC] (3:45)

06 - Six Mile Bottom [UK] (2:40)

07 - Seven Kings [UK] (5:10)

08 - Eight Streets [USA] (5:55)

09 - Nine Elms [UK] (2:50)

10 - Ten Ten Road [NC, USA] (3:25)

11 - Eleven Lands [UK] (3:30)



Totaltime: 39:15

Numbered Places * piano * music by Juan Mar�a Solare



The cycle Numbered Places startsfrom a simple idea: the piece nr. 1 would have a title that begins with theword One, the piece nr. 2 a titlethat begins with the word Two and soon up to an arbitrary number (in this case, eleven).



For everything to have more cohesion, English names of different places orregions in either USA or (mainly) UK were used.



In its own way, Numbered Placesis therefore a conceptual album - alreadyfrom the point of view of titles.



Also musically, this world of sound has cohesion: instrumental piano music,neoclassical aesthetics (a somewhat broad concept that encompasses composerssuch as Erik Satie or Ludovico Einaudi), a certain simplicity in its surface.



Let us briefly comment each of the titles:



- One WayFlight to ...: The imaginary journey starts here. Each person will completethe sentence with the destiny of their choice.

- TwopennyLoaf: This is a neighborhood (and geographically a cape) in the city ofGloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA. It is believed to have gotten itsname because it is shaped like a (bread) loaf that at the time cost twopennies.

- ThreeBridges: It is a city somewhere between London and Brighton, and a nodalpoint where trains typically split. Musically, the most minimalistic of all thecycle.

- Four Oaks:There are numerous places so named, both in England and the US, and possibly inother countries. I can imagine that there were actually four oak trees planted near.

- FivePointz: Neighborhood in Queens, New York. A graffiti mecca that wasdemolished in 2014 to build expensive buildings. And yes, it is spelled with zin this case.

- Six MileBottom: Is a hamlet near Cambridge in England. The hamlet derives its namefrom its distance from the start of Newmarket Racecourse and because it lies ina valley bottom. There is no public transport. The old train station, closed in1967 for lack of use, is now a private residence.

- SevenKings: It is a neighborhood in Ilford, East London. The earliest recordeduse of the name is as Sevekyngg or Sevekyngges in 1285, possibly meaning'settlement of the family or followers of a man called Seofoca'

- EightStreets: it is a (very sought-after) neighborhood located in the heart ofthe historic South End of the city of Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

- Nine Elms:a district of South West London. Nine Elms Lane was named around the year 1645,from a row of elm trees bordering the road.

- Ten TenRoad: it is a place -actually the main road- in the town of Apex, NorthCarolina, USA.

- ElevenLands: this place is mentioned in an old legal report from around 1782 asexisting in North London ("a place called Eleven Lands, containing fiveacres of arable, formerly Cosby's, beonging to a farm in the said parish ofBletcheley...", in " Acollection of the Reports of Cases, the Statutes, and Ecclesiastical Laws,relating to Tithes", volume 3). It has certainly changed its name.Musically, this last piece has a certain tango aura.





Why eleven pieces and not more? The truth is that - incredibly as it mayseem - I didn't find any place called "Twelve" something. Yes thereare such names in other languages, but I wanted to keep some consistency. Thereare also pubs or bars called Twelvewhatever, but since they are not sponsoring my music, I had no motivation togive them free advertising at the moment.



This album was released in early 2020 on Spotify, iTunes and allother online platforms through the label BlissRecordings in London (part of frtyfve).Find your favorite service here: https://frtyfve.lnk.to/NPVol1



There are alsovideos of several pieces of this album. They are in the following playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL70vQeCRYmkp3vEdIkdnjJyiU1aZ_u7HA

Solitudeis Oneself: Three piano pieces:

1 NeverUnderestimate the Difficulties of Simple Things

2 Too MuchBut Still Not Enough

3 Waitingfor Perfection is Waiting Forever

Tranquil, relaxing, "chill",minimalist, expressive music for solo piano.

You can "use" this music formeditation, study, learning, sleeping, relax or praying.

The phrase wherethe title (Solitude is Oneself)comes from belongs to Javier Ad�riz (1948-2011), Argentine poet, one ofmy best teachers and friends (the original Spanish reads "La soledad es uno mismo").

Don'tsee any negative aspects in Solitude. In Spanish there is only one word forSolitude and Loneliness (namely "Soledad"). Loneliness is a state ofisolation, without dialog, feeling abandoned and without external points ofreference. But I conceive Solitude as a highely creative state, in which one isfaced to what one actually wants to achieve, with one's thoughts, with one'sself.

NeverUnderestimate the Difficulties of Simple Things. Lots of times I have seenthis in several persons - and in myself: when something is simple, easy anduncomplicated, we tend to underestimate it too much and its hidden difficultiesend up tackling us. We leave to the last moment a text that seems easy tolearn, and we do not assimilate it as we could. Or a chess game that is(really) won, but we feel over-confident, we play with superficiality, we makeslight mistakes one after the other and loose control of the situation.

Thistitle can be understood as self-referent: this particular piano piece seems tobe simple... until you try to perform it really well and record it.

About the ArtWork / Cover Art of Solitudeis Oneself:

It shows a human face (concretely the composer's)faced simmetrically to its silhouette, in black. This illustration alludes tothe title: Solitude is Oneself. Is oneself (the person) facing his ownsolitude, his internal misterious being. A real human facing his own shadow. Itis not a negative shadow: is the shadow of which Shamanism speaks, the ownshadow from where one draws strength.

The music is dedicated to Mr. Cadmiel P�rez from Rep�blica Dominicana.

Solitude isOneself was recorded by the composer and released as single on Friday 17August 2018 on Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon mp3 and nearly all streaming platforms you canimagine.

In Spotify is here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/6KffxzDSVYJqZuNEK3Bj0h

In Bandcamp is here:

https://juanmariasolare.bandcamp.com/album/solitude-is-oneself

If you readSpanish you can find more about this music here:

https://es.quora.com/blog/musica-neoclasica/La-soledad-es-uno-mismo-m%C3%BAsica-para-piano