When Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra member Josep Castanyer Alonso sat at his grand piano, he was to use his classical training to pay tribute to six of the most iconic composers of all time – Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Bartok. However, he wasn’t going to just play a simple selection of their pieces. Instead, he took everyone by surprise when he interpreted Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ in the style of each composer.
Our Music Man readers might wonder how it’s even possible to play the pop Christmas hit in a classical style, but Josep did an astonishing job of interpreting the song so that it sounded completely authentic to each composer’s sound. Not only is the cover creative and inventive, but it truly highlights Josep’s musical talent as he plays the complex compositions with perfect precision, with one viewer describing it as “Some of the most truly exquisite piano playing this world’s ever heard.”
One of the most impressive parts of the piece to me is not only that he managed to transform the modern song in such an impressive way, but that the composition made it so easy to understand and compare each composer’s style. This was helped by the informative and often humorous annotations Josep added to the video, which helped listeners understand more about each composition. I must say his description of the Tchaikovsky section as a “symphonic temper tantrum” certainly gave me a laugh.
Aside from his classical Christmas number, Joseph has a number of other videos on his YouTube channel interpreting popular songs in unique ways inspired by classical composers. His most popular video, now having reached 3M views, is his cover of ‘Barbie Girl’ by Aqua, once again interpreting it in the style of six different composers. The concept should be absolutely absurd, but thanks to Joseph’s immense talent, it ends up sounding like a truly impressive classical composition.
We know our Music Man readers love to listen to unique interpretations of popular songs, but this one is truly in a league of its own. To not only transform a modern Christmas pop hit into a classical masterpiece, but to accurately interpret the styles of six of the greatest classical composers in music history in the process, just goes to show the level of skill, knowledge, and imagination Josep brings to his work.
I am certainly waiting to see which song Josep will choose to interpret next, and how he will use his immense musical talent to make it sound timeless. Perhaps Happy Birthday in the style of Chopin? No matter what he takes on, it is bound to once again amaze listeners in a way they never expected.