Swirling Modes

"A good starting point for this piece is to hunt out the performance by Jesse Freedman on YouTube. At only two minutes long this compelling and forward-thrusting little piece is very forceful and requires a very secure technique to be performed successfully, and indeed is several notches more difficult than most of his other pieces I have seen. It starts with a six-string chord that had me momentarily scratching my head until I realised how it was to be played. So if you cannot put a bar on Fret 5, but then put your other fingers on Frets 7, and 9 and even 11, then don't look any further; this is not for you! Thankfully, these two opening chords do not recur, so you only have to stretch once. Again, as in other works, the hammer-ons and pull-offs feature throughout and are becoming one of his most recognisable features. There is no let up throughout and one finds oneself hurtling around the fingerboard, in a seemingly random fashion, which is definitely not the case, as this piece is very highly organised. For the player with the right technique, this would prove to be a very flashy item in the middle of a concert but the gifted amateur player will also find plenty to enjoy, and therefore I can definitely recommend it as something very unusual that is completely out of the ordinary."

Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)