“Exile upon Earth” – Composer’s notes

The thematic ideas of “Exile upon Earth” had been conceived while visiting the Department of Applied Mathematics of the University of Colorado at Boulder, in the United States, over the first months of 2009. At that time, I could not afford to rent a piano. Often, in the evenings, I used to leave numbers and equations in my office, ride my bike through the campus paths covered by snow, sneak in the practice rooms of the local Department of Music where I could find an old wrecked piano, and get locked in for the night. Along with the other suites in the album “The chain rules”, this music reflects the bewilderment when facing the Hobson’s choices and double binds of life, and the resulting sense of solitude that lasts even when we plunge into the crowd on the streets or when we are surrounded by familiar faces.