Rochberg Caprice Variations

for Solo Violin

George Rochberg's brilliant and virtuoso album is a modern masterpiece in the unaccompanied violin repertoire. Composed in 1970, this work is comprised of fifty-one character variations--as compositionally expansive and technically varied as Chopin's Etudes or Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier --drawing on many music parodies and allusions, and culminating in the (almost) literal statement of Paganini's famed Caprice No. 24 . Because of the composition's extended length, the composer has sanctioned the thoughtful curtailment of some printed repeats and even the omission of certain variations in recital performance.