Fantasie For Flute and Piano

The Fantasie was originally composed for violin/piano as a result of a commission from the Florida State Music Teachers’ Association for premiere at their state conference in November of 2005. The instrumentation of the commission itself was unspecified, leaving me a wide array of choices for which to compose.

The timing of the writing of the piece itself played a large role in the choice of violin and piano. Due to the fact that my own instrument is trumpet, and because I know so many people in that particular field, I had just completed several works for trumpet or brass ensembles. It was only natural that I wanted to do something quite different, and that I wanted to steer towards a solo instrument a little more mainstream.

Having made the decision to use violin and piano, the choice to use Glenn Basham (the concertmaster of the Naples Philharmonic, where I was employed at the time) and Jodie DeSalvo was altogether obvious, exciting and daunting. They both bring excitement and originality to every new venture, and both enjoy such command, both musically and technically, with their instruments, that the task at hand was not going to be whether they could play what I wrote, but whether I could write what they can play. (As a matter of fact, I must state that for the first time in my career as a composer, the performer [in this case Mrs. DeSalvo] actually asked me to compose something more difficult after she had seen a half-composed sketch!) This is a welcome treat for any composer, and I was excited at the prospects.

For me, the title of Fantasie implied that any idea that came into my head was fair game. I wanted the piece to truly sound as if I followed every whim that entered my brain. I did not, however, forego the rules of composition (whatever those may be!) but instead made sure that the “whims” all followed a certain logical order. My desire is that the audience be delighted by every new turn in the music, while the composition student discovers the reasons inherent therein.

Much of the content of the music is both derived from the opening theme, and also an encounter I had with Glenn in which he divulged his new-found joy of the octatonic scale. The entire piece mixes and matches these two ideas, as it winds its way through different moods and flights of fancy, and culminates in a technically virtuosic and fantastic finish.

Jim Stephenson May, 2010