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The music album “Numbered Places” (neo-classical piano music) was released on May 1, 2020, in Spotify, AppleMusic, AmazonMusic and nearly all other Digital Streaming Platforms – through the label Bliss Recordings (London).

Pianist and composer of all eleven tracks is Juan María Solare, born in Argentina and based in Bremen, Germany.

The cycle “Numbered Places” starts from a simple idea: piece nr. 1 would have a title that begins with the word One, 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), or a certain simplicity in its surface.

Incidentally, the piece Three Bridges (third track of Numbered Places and already released as a single in January) has already reached over one million listeners on Spotify and three millions streams (thanks to its placement in the mega playlist Peaceful Piano).

Here you can find the album Numbered Places on different platforms.

Pianist Juan María Solare (at the Theatersaal of the University of Bremen, Germany)

And here is the direct link to Spotify:

Piano album Numbered Places (by Juan María Solare) on Spotify

Italian pianist Nibbio Bruno wrote about Three Bridges:
“Juan Maria Solare never disappoints …in just [2 minutes] of arpeggios he says all that others (like me) do not even say in… an hour of music!! What a wonderful listening experience, a great return back in the past of each of us to look for an episode of our life, a face, something that had been forgotten and instead, thanks to this music, returns to a new life in our memory . Thank you!“

Let us briefly comment each of the individual 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 YouTube playlist shows some of these pieces of music – recorded live at the University of Bremen, Germany (grand piano Bösendorfer):

The Sheet music is available for download at Sheet Music Plus.

The music album Numbered Places is released through the label Bliss Recordings (part of frtyfve) in London, UK.

Numbered Places, piano album by Juan María Solare. Artwork by Patrick McHugh