Paul Sterne is a french composer.
Organist, 1st Prize of the Marseille National Conservatory, he has also studied conducting in Vienna and Budapest.
As a composer, he has authored an important catalogue – reaching up to 170 pieces in 2015.
His style – unclassifiable – is often thought to be influenced by a spectrum of various streams and intended to be set in a
tonal language.
To some extent, his music can recall the language of the early part of the 20th century (“3 Rêveries” for orchestra, “Poème d'hiver” for viola and piano, “Caprice” for doublebass and piano ...), with variably brief intakes of more modern tones while alternating with more "classical" touches.These intakes may occur in the middle of a work, within the space of one or a few bars, or extend across a whole movement (as in the final Allegro Vivace of the "1st Divertimento", a movement that was entirely written in line with the classical and academic standards).
His works have lately marked a change from his previous productions by bringing along atmospheres of more modern tones. This is the case of “Delirium” Op. 157, a small piece that revels with polytonality, or “Rêves sélènes” for cello and doublebass,
or “Lux” for 2 flutes.
Despite this, there's always a constant in his language: the use of melody, which seems to establish a "common background" to his work as a whole. Whether the melody is handled more or less in a "classical" way or not, its presence is always there. There is no such thing as atonality in Paul Sterne's world.
It is also noteworthy that the language of Paul Sterne has nothing to do with “linear” progressivism. From his début productions in 1995 so far, Sterne's style cannot be called a bed of roses but a winding road in terms of constant twists and twirls throughout his works.
His style can greatly vary from one work to another, shuffling on and on until it gets back to any of the languages in use on a previous round... With or without any sense of logic as the process may first appear, Paul Sterne writes the music he can feel, when he can feel it. This way, spontaneity keeps fueling his engine, regardless of logic and order. (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
