Josep Castanyer Alonso sat at his grand piano in a plain white room to record his next video, but longtime fans knew his playing would be anything but plain. Josep has made a name for himself taking unexpected songs like Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ or Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ and playing them in the style of different classical composers. This time, he took things to a whole new and surprising level by interpreting different ringtones in the style of six different composers.
Music Man readers will be astonished to see how Josep transformed the familiar ringtones into impressive classical pieces. Performing the iPhone ‘Marimba’ ringtone in the style of Chopin, and the iconic Nokia ringtone of the 2000s in the style of Ravel, Josep took the original motifs and used them to compose entirely new pieces of music, paying tribute to the styles of the different composers as he did so. One impressed listener even called Josep’s work “Genius level musicianship.”
I was amazed by how Josep was able to combine his impressive musicianship with humour and education. Not only was the concept of the video humorous, and his playing an education in the styles of different composers, but Josep also added annotations to the video with descriptions of the piece, such as “extension of the theme” or humorous comments like “I paid for 88 keys, and I am gonna use all 88 keys.” I couldn’t look away, hooked to see what kind of amusing side note would pop up next.
If Music Man fans want to see more of Josep’s impressive work, then they should definitely go and check out his other interpretations of modern works in the styles of different classical composers. His most popular is his reworking of ‘Barbie Girl,’ which finds him playing the piece in the styles of composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Schumann. Listeners couldn’t believe how a single piece could be transformed so creatively in so many ways, and the video has now received over 3.1M views.
With Josep’s unique approach to combining modern and classical music, he may be opening up the world of classical music to a whole new audience. While listeners may click on the video for its unique and amusing concept, he captures the spirit of the composers so wonderfully that he may very well inspire those who have not been exposed to their work to go and dig a little deeper. Whether you are a classical music enthusiast or a total novice, it’s undeniable that Josep Castanyer Alonso has used his classical training to create some truly unique and impressive works that fans won’t be able to resist returning to time and time again.