Fantaisie pour flute et piano (Op. 79) was written in 1898 by French composer Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). It was commissioned by (and dedicated to) the flautist and teacher Claude-Paul Taffanel for the Concours de flute, a flute competition held by the Conservatoire de Paris. The purpose of the piece was to test the examinees on matters of phrasing, expression, tone control and virtuosity. Fauré also used the first 18 bars of the introduction for part of his incidental music to the 1898 London production of Maurice Maeterlinck’s drama Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80. An arrangement for orchestra was made in 1957 by Louis Albert.
 
This arrangement, Fantaisie (à la Satie), by Nigel Edmund-Jones is of just the first of the original piece’s two parts (Andantino and Allegro) and has been created for solo piano in the style of the well-known 1er Gymnopédie by Eric Satie (1866-1925), written in 1888. Claude Debussy orchestrated the set of three Gymnopédies in 1898. 
 
Although Fauré’s piano accompaniment for the flute used shorter note lengths, the style of Satie’s left-hand chord accompaniment to the haunting tune lends itself well to this interpretation. A few notes in left-hand chords have been excluded, but only where they duplicate the same note played in the right-hand tune. Otherwise, no notes have been changed (including the intentional F sharp in bar 17). The surprise of the beautiful, jazzy F naturals in bars 29 and 57 are exactly as in Fauré’s original composition. In the main tune, Faure’s staccato markings have been excluded, as the more legato phrasing suits the Satie style.
 
Listen to a recording by Mathilde Caldérini of both movements from the original Fantaisie for flute and piano on YouTube.
 
The original score (also for flute and piano) may be viewed on IMSLP here.