Fantasia II, from 12 Fantasias for Flute without Bass, TWV 40:3
 
For a transcriber, the most fascinating and difficult challenge is, undoubtedly, the arrangement of a piece for a polyphonic instrument of music originally written for a monodic one. The Fantasia you are holding in your hands is the result of one of such challenges and I dare to say that music for flute solo is clearly a Mount Everest for any transcriber.
 
For us, listeners, the expectation regarding the fullness of the harmony, the clarity of the bass line and the explicit counterpoint are completely different when listening to a flute or a guitar. A flute score does not only consist of ‘one note at time’ type of writing, but has also plenty of ‘empty’ spots and broken melodic lines (especially in the middle voices) due to the necessary respiration silences.
 
The presence of a Fugue in this Fantasia makes of course things even thornier, because of its ambiguous counterpoint. Altogether, this means for the transcriber to write a continuo and its harmonies, to fill the empty ‘breathing’ spots with the most logical musical material and to complete the elusive counterpoint, and so, that’s exactly what I did. I wish you lots of intense moments with this stunning piece!