Included in the standard repertoire of flutists the world over is the Fantasie by Gabriel Fauré, Op. 79. It seems that the piece was not composed as a result of a flash of inspiration. Paul Taffanel asked Gabriel for a piece suitable for his flute examination at the Paris Conservatoire. I am not completely fond of every aspect of Fauré’s Fantasie, but it does communicate a certain charm, and the story behind the composition of this piece is the inspiration for my attempt at my own “brilliant” composition. I must confess that my teacher, Martin Orenstein, introduced Gabriel’s Op. 79 to me with a “story”, as was his custom, including some details I am not sure are commonly related. It was his way to try and coax me into accepting it as an examination piece for myself. Mr. Orenstein’s stories seemed very interesting to me, especially the stories that would lead me to accept the most difficult of pieces to play.
In the summer of 2011, I was inspired to take a turn at composing a “brilliant” piece that would be both fun and challenging to play. I started by improvising with a theme in C minor that had been rolling around in my head for some time already, and It would take several nights of intense improvisation on the piano to settle on the form and development of the theme.
They say that all compositions come out as a result of improvisation, and showing off a little bit can also be a bit of fun. Having an original composition to showcase both composition and performance skills is not entirely a bad motive, either. While this piece offers a bit of lyrically melodic content for both the piano and the flute, It also contains rhythmic challenges for the pianist and poses some ethereal harmonic progressions typical of a fantasy piece.
Fantasy in C minor for flute and piano is now available on the www.sheetmusicplus.com website. This printing contains the score and separate parts for the piano and the flute (34 Pages of Music). It is easy on the ears, not at all avant-garde, and it does not push too much in an experimental way. It should be about 4:42 minutes in length. The adante tempo marking is flexible (80-86 bpm), and the tempo should become faster at about the second half of the piece. Dynamics should fluctuate at the beginning and grow in intensity as the piece moves towards the end. Phrases should breathe and not remain static.
Fantasy in C minor for flute and piano is the 5th cut on my album release of Adagio in Praise for flute and orchestra. You can find this release at your favorite online store.
About four years ago, I was playing for a few University of Connecticut functions, in venues like The Aqua Turf Club, in Plantsville, CT. This used to be a yearly gig for me. They would also book places like the Marriott, in Hartford, CT. Playing for these banquets was kind of tricky. Finding a good volume that would not be too loud, while maintaining that “live” feel was a challenge. Also, maintaining that “background music” volume meant that at times I was struggling to hear myself. This would at times become rather frustrating and a temptation to not accept any other receptions. My other challenge was finding appropriate music for the banquets. After playing strictly religious music for many years, mostly in Churches, I really didn’t have a proper collection of backing arrangements.
At first, I played most of the inspirational music that I had readily available, and it was well received; however, it somehow felt like the music was out of place. So slowly I started to make the arrangements that would become the Quicksand CD. The song that I’m posting below, The Mirror, is a bit of an accidental song. It was initially meant as backing music for a vocal track, but necessity called for it to be a flute solo. As usual I’m playing all of the instruments on this track, as I do on all of the tracks I record.