Corentin Boissier : A contemporary "romantic" composer

[Music33]

Though composed in the XXIst century, the piano works of French composer Corentin Boissier are written in an unashamedly "romantic" style.
For example, his first piano sonata (adequately titled "Sonata Romantica"  ) and his set of three piano pieces "Romantic Young Ladies" are in a mid-XIXth century idiom, with echoes of Chopin and Schumann at times, while his second piano sonata (subtitled "Sonata Appassionata"), as well as his "Glamour Concerto" and his concert piece "Pandora's Box", are written in a flamboyant late-romantic style "à la Rachmaninoff".

Piano Sonata No. 1 "Sonata Romantica" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JemWfzgR_4A
Piano Sonata No. 2 "Sonata Appassionata" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCX8slOKD88
Three Pieces for piano "Romantic Young Ladies" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN6n_l-ssVk
"Glamour Concerto" for solo piano : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13xCa3QCntA
Concert Piece for piano "Pandora's Box" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SQuomIyuiE

Then, what do you think of these works ?

[Alan Howe]

Unashamed pastiches, the lot of them. I absolutely loved them!

Here's the composer's website:
http://www.corentinboissier.net

[Mark Thomas]

Yep, me too. Yet another guilty pleasure...

[jdperdrix]

Check his youtube channels (references on his website). He has posted a lot of more-or-less-contemporary romantic works, as well as his own.

The "Pandora Selfridge" story is worth reading, too...

[Peter1953]

I am absolutely impressed. Wonderful music!

[Alan Howe]

The question, though, is: Will the real Corentin Boissier stand up? Is he pseudo-Liszt, pseudo-Rachmaninov, or someone else? This is what differentiates him from, say, the late and much-lamented Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski whose style was equally romantic, but consistent across all his compositions. I enjoy listening to a (good) epigone as much as anyone else, but what about a multi-epigone? There's something peculiarly post-modern about the idea...

[Alan Howe]

Here's a snippet from the recording of Boissier's 'Glamour Concerto' played by Valentina Seferinova, with John McLaughlin Williams conducting the Ukrainian Festival Orchestra in Lviv, Ukraine at the end of February/beginning of March 2019:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ujUooaLHa4&feature=youtu.be

The coupling is his 'Philip Marlowe Piano Concerto'.

More here:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/CorentinBoissierComposer/posts/

Wonder when the recording will come out? And on which label?

[Christopher]

There's a member on here by the name "CorentinBoissier" - is it one and the same?

[Alan Howe]

Indeed it is.

[pianoconcerto]

Alan mentioned the recording of Corentin Boissier's Glamour Concerto and Philip Marlowe Concerto a while ago.  It is now listed in the Toccata Classics Pipeline as 0569:  https://toccataclassics.com/pipeline/.  No release date mentioned, but forthcoming.

[4candles]

Toccata Classics will indeed be releasing this soon (perhaps in May?). I am in the process of proofreading the booklet note, which makes for interesting reading, especially a transcript of an interview with Boissier where he talks around the inspiration of his art and of classical music's place in modern times.

Having long known about Boissier's YouTube accounts and some of the wonderful music he has uploaded there, it is encouraging to see this recording of the young composer being realised (he is only about 25 years old!). Although I suspect the music won't be altogether to my personal tastes, I'm sure it will sound very fine and betray a voice of a composer who really knows what he's doing!

Answers to the question about Boissier being a 'multi-epigone' will soon be borne out then - not long to wait! 

[Alan Howe]

This'll be an absolute must-buy for me. Thanks for alerting us to it.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I am happy to say that I was responsible for introducing Corentin to Valentina Seferinova and getting her interested in his music. I look forward very much to this CD release.

[Alan Howe]

Oh, well done, Gareth. Great work!

[Gareth Vaughan]

Thank you, Alan. I do my best!