Cope | Folie Circularie for solo guitar

I'm not particularly fond of either contemporary pieces (I find usually them to be unnecessarily meandering and toneless) or "modern" jazz (for basically the same reasons. Give me be-bop and big band any day!). That said, I *love* this piece of music. I love its intensity, its musicality, its dynamic range, its cleverness, and the fact that all of those elements actually make up a cohesive whole that, while slightly challenging to listen to, still remains very accessible to audiences (particularly if the title is explained prior to the performance.

The publication (from Edition Baraszewski) is special, too; it is a spiral bound (!) book, with off-white, glare-free (and, I suspect, acid-free) pages, and clean, crisp notation. The included fingerings make sense. As for the complexity, I found that the main theme was easier than the second but, on the whole, there was greater challenge (for me) in the reading of the music than in the playing of it. It is a high-intermediate / advanced piece and it is FUN to play! It is in the key of C with a brief detour into E flat (this section, marked "blissful," is meant to evoke the calm period people with Bipolar experience). The time signature is primarily Common, but it is an extremely challenging piece rhythmically. There are also some pretty wide fret-hand stretches and unison lines.

Overall, this is a terrific edition, and very much worth the current price of $8 (U.S.). It would be an exciting addition to any classical guitarist's repertoire. As Stringsbymail doesn't have samples, here is a performance of it from Philip Goldenberg - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSkM_kby2VE