Leonard Bernstein at 100

Overview

Previously unpublished, Bernstein's Variations on an Octatonic Scale was originally composed for recorder and cello in 1988-89 in Key West. Composed for Helena Burton, daughter of his friend Humphrey Burton, who played recorder. Soon after, Bernstein rewrote them for a larger ensemble, which became the second movement, "Mixed Double" in his Concerto for Orchestra.

The recorder part is written non-transposed, which would be at the octave for alto recorder, leaving it up to the preference of the player at which point to alternate between soprano and alto recorder. Bernstein wrote in the manuscript "Soprano or alto, or both alternately, as preferred."