Caprice Variations

The arranger’s transcription includes 20 of the original 51 caprices. She chose to include those best suited to the flute while representing the enormous stylistic range of Rochberg’s entire set. Her goal in the transcriptions was to use the flute to its fullest capacity, challenging the player with dynamic, technical, and stylistic extremes: the range of these variations goes from a B1 to an E4 and from pppp to ffz! She made minimal breathing and metronome suggestions, adding these only when they seemed most important. In George Rochberg’s Afterword to the Performer, he permits omitting some of the repeats and variations to suit the length and artistic discretion of the performer. However, he advocates for balance in preserving “the stylistic spread which is a fundamental premise of this work.” c. 27:00