Product Description
Juan María 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)
Total
time: 39:15
Numbered Places * piano * music by Juan María Solare
The cycle Numbered Places starts
from a simple idea: the piece nr. 1 would have a title that begins with the
word One, the piece nr. 2 a title
that begins with the word Two and so
on up to an arbitrary number (in this case, eleven).
For everything to have more cohesion, English names of different places or
regions in either USA or (mainly) UK were used.
In its own way, Numbered Places
is therefore a conceptual album - already
from 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 composers
such as Erik Satie or Ludovico Einaudi), a certain simplicity in its surface.
Let us briefly comment each of the titles:
- One Way
Flight to ...: The imaginary journey starts here. Each person will complete
the sentence with the destiny of their choice.
- Twopenny
Loaf: This is a neighborhood (and geographically a cape) in the city of
Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA. It is believed to have gotten its
name because it is shaped like a (bread) loaf that at the time cost two
pennies.
- Three
Bridges: It is a city somewhere between London and Brighton, and a nodal
point where trains typically split. Musically, the most minimalistic of all the
cycle.
- Four Oaks:
There are numerous places so named, both in England and the US, and possibly in
other countries. I can imagine that there were actually four oak trees planted near.
- Five
Pointz: Neighborhood in Queens, New York. A graffiti mecca that was
demolished in 2014 to build expensive buildings. And yes, it is spelled with z
in this case.
- Six Mile
Bottom: Is a hamlet near Cambridge in England. The hamlet derives its name
from its distance from the start of Newmarket Racecourse and because it lies in
a valley bottom. There is no public transport. The old train station, closed in
1967 for lack of use, is now a private residence.
- Seven
Kings: It is a neighborhood in Ilford, East London. The earliest recorded
use of the name is as Sevekyngg or Sevekyngges in 1285, possibly meaning
'settlement of the family or followers of a man called Seofoca'
- Eight
Streets: it is a (very sought-after) neighborhood located in the heart of
the 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 Ten
Road: it is a place -actually the main road- in the town of Apex, North
Carolina, USA.
- Eleven
Lands: this place is mentioned in an old legal report from around 1782 as
existing in North London ("a place called Eleven Lands, containing five
acres of arable, formerly Cosby's, beonging to a farm in the said parish of
Bletcheley...", in " A
collection 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.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.