Eliot Fisk

Eliot Fisk (born August 10, 1954 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American classical guitarist.

Biography

Fisk was the last direct pupil of Andrés Segovia and is the holder of all reproduction rights to Segovia's music, given to him by Segovia's wife, Emilia. After attending Jamesville-Dewitt High School in Dewitt, New York, Class of 1972, Fisk also studied interpretation under harpsichordists Ralph Kirkpatrick and Albert Fuller at Yale University, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1976. After graduation, he was asked to form the Guitar Department at the Yale School of Music. He was the winner of the International Guitar Competition in 1980.

He is a professor at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria, where he teaches in five different languages, and in Boston at the New England Conservatory. His students have come from many countries, and several have gone on to become important performers and teachers in their own right.

Fisk lives in Boston, Salzburg, and Granada, Spain with his wife, Zaira, and their 6-year-old daughter, Raquel. He uses a handmade Thomas Humphrey Millennium guitar and another by upcoming luthier Stephan Connor. He received the Grand Cross of Isabel la Cátolica on June 10, 2006, from King Juan Carlos of Spain. Earlier recipients have included Andrés Segovia and Yehudi Menuhin. Fisk earned the award for contributions to Spanish music as an interpreter and teacher.

Career and evaluation

An innovative performer, Fisk is known for an adventurous repertoire and willingness to take art music into unusual venues, including schools, senior centers and even prisons. He has received critical acclaim in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras and in a wide variety of chamber music combinations. In 1996 he appeared in a command performance in the Palacio de los Cordova in Granada, Spain, for then U.S. President Bill Clinton and King Juan Carlos and their families.

Fisk is founder and director of Boston Guitar Fest, an annual event held in the month of June at the New England Conservatory. This workshop is dedicated to exploring new technical and musical possibilities of the guitar within an international cultural context. He has expanded the repertoire for the guitar through transcriptions of works by Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Paganini, and others, as well as through commissions from various composers including Luciano Berio, Leonardo Balada, Robert Beaser, Wiliam Bolcom, Xavier Montsalvatge, Nicholas Maw, George Rochberg and Kurt Schwertsik. His transcriptions and editions are published by Universal, Presser, Ricordi and Guitar Solo Publications.

His recordings for the Musical Heritage Society, DGG, Arabesque, and EMI have been much praised and even entered the Billboard charts as bestsellers. Many of these recordings include repertoire never before performed on the guitar such as his reading of the 24 solo violin Capricci, Op. 1 of Paganini, and his recordings of contemporary works by Berio and Rochberg or his recording with Paula Robison of Robert Beaser’s Mountain Songs, which was nominated for a Grammy.

Fisk's efforts in unconventional musical territory have included collaborations with chanteuse Ute Lemper, Turkish music expert Burhan Öçal, jazz musician Joe Pass, and master of castanets Lucero Tena. Upcoming projects include the premiere of a new quintet for guitar and strings by Leonardo Balada with the Miro String Quartet, the premiere of a new guitar concerto by Robert Beaser, and a nationwide tour of the US resulting in a duo CD with flamenco guitarist Paco Peña.

Criticism

• "He constantly stretches himself and his instrument technically [...] And yet I had to notice, as in Fisk’s previous visit that I attended, wildly fast tempos that became unsteady and led to wrong or smudged notes."
• "In several of the caprices, as arranged and played by Eliot Fisk, one gets an impression that they are either unsuitable for playing on the guitar or the musician has been stretched beyond his technical capabilities. [...] A reasonable observation is that Mr. Fisk may have bitten off more, technically, than he can chew."
• "A hallmark of virtuosity is precise and accurate execution of certain passages very quickly, and exercising good musical judgement within the context of the music. Laudable though his arrangements and intentions may be, Mr. Fisk fails to give a convincing performance in those caprices that require execution within the criteria defined. Some, irrespective of the speed at which they are traditionally played on the violin, may benefit in his hands if their tempi were decreased, and winning the Paganini Derby given a lower priority."
• [...] Eliot Fisk opened the second half with a lute prelude and his arrangement of the Chaconne from Bach's D minor Violin Partita. If the steady tread and the cumulative magnificence of that great movement can be achieved on the guitar, they were not apparent here.

Views on guitarists

Eliot Fisk has said:

• "It's true that Segovia didn't get compositions from Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokifiev and a lot of composers we would like to have pieces from. Maybe he was in a position to have done that, but on the other hand, who among us has done as much as he did? If other people were interested, they could've tried commission them. Besides, this criticism of Segovia is pointless. If you disagree with what Segovia did, take that energy and go out and do something positive. Otherwise, shut up."
• "Now, it's different when John Williams, who studied with Segovia, says he wasn't a good teacher and the like. There is a difference in generation. [...] I didn't have Segovia butting into my life, telling me to do this and that. That's why John needed to rebel violently."
• "My rebellion is in truth against Bream and Williams; because I have to confess I'm a bit disappointed in both of them. From time immemorial, it has been the practice of one generation to pass on to the next what it learned. But my generation has almost no guitar fathers. Ghiglia and Diaz taught and were accessible, but Bream and Williams were not. [...] They've both given immensely. But growing up, I was very saddened by their inaccessibility. I feel that my generation lost a lot because of that. In a way, we all need to rebel. The next generation will rebel against us. It's one thing I encourage when teaching. I want to give my students the strength to tell me to go to hell. 'Cause if they can tell me to go to hell, they can tell the world. Ultimately, that will help them, not to be difficult but rather to have conviction for the long struggle."

Discography

• Guitar Music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco with Czech Phiharmonic Orchestra,

Richard Kapp, Conductor · The Shanghai String Quartet · Musical Heritage Society

• J.S. Bach The Six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord

BWV 1014 - 1019 · Transcribed by Eliot Fisk for Violin, Guitar, and Cello · Benjamin Hudson, violin · Eliot Fisk, guitar · Gyorgy Vognar, violoncello · GOOD International

• Mountain Songs with flutist Paula Robison

Robert Beaser's Cycle of American Folk Music · MusicMasters 67038-2

• The Artistry of Eliot Fisk

Two-disc sampling of previous recordings (various composers) · Musical Heritage Society

• Vivaldi Concerto in D Major for Lute, RV. 93, Largo

• J.S. Bach The Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin

Two disc set: BWV 1001 - 1006 · MusicMasters

• Canciones Latinas with Paula Robison, flute

Works by Villa-Lobos, Ponce, Peramo, Casals, Piazzolla, Ginastera and Ovalle plus traditional folk melodies of Latin America · MusicMasters 67193-2

• Segovia Canciones Populares

Premiere recording of original compositions and arrangements by Andres Segovia · MusicMasters 67174-2

• J. S. Bach Trio Sonatas with Albert Fuller, Harpsichord

The 6 Trio Sonatas BWV 525-530 transcribed for guitar and harpsichord · MusicMasters 67182-2

• Paganini 24 Caprices

24 Violin Caprices transcribed for solo guitar · MusicMasters 67092-2

• Bell'Italia: Four Centuries of Italian Music

Scarlatti, Frescobaldi, Locatelli, Fiorillo and others

• Scarlatti Sonata in A Major (originally in F Major), K. 274, Andante

MusicMasters 67079-2

• Scarlatti 18 Sonatas

Harpsichord sonatas arranged for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk · VGo Recordings VG 1003

• Für Eliot

Scarlatti, Martin, Ponce, Paganini, Relly Raffman · GSP 1008

• The Best of Eliot Fisk

Paganini, Sagreras, Barrios-Mangoré, D. Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Mozart, J. S. Bach, Rochberg, Beaser and others· MusicMasters 67151-2

• Sequenza!

Berio, D. Scarlatti, Paganini, Mendelssohn, Beethoven &middot MusicMasters 67150-2

• George Rochberg Caprice Variations

50 Variations on Paganini's 24th Caprice · MusicMasters 67133-2

• Vivaldi Concerti

Vivaldi Concerti and Other Works with the Orchestra of St. Luke's · MusicMasters 67097-2

• Eliot Fisk Plays Guitar Fantasies

Mozart, Couperin, Sor, Poulenc, Weiss, Dowland, J. S. Bach and others · MusicMasters 67008-2

• The Latin American Guitar

Ponce, Sagreras, Sojo, Lauro and Barrios-Mangoré · MusicMasters 67127-2

• Eliot Fisk Performs Works by Baroque Composers

J. S. Bach, Frescobaldi, Scarlatti · MusicMasters 67130-2

• Virtuoso Guitar

J. S. Bach, Scarlatti, Froberger · MusicMasters 67128-2

• The Classical Guitar

Mozart, Haydn, Paganini, Soler · MusicMasters 60034-2

• Two American Virtuosi with Carol Wincenc, flute

Giuliani, Gossec, Ravel, Milhaud, Godard, Poulenc and Bartok · MusicMasters 60059-2

• Latin American Guitar Music

Ponce, Barrios-Mangore and others · Angel Records 47760-2

• Eliot Fisk Plays Villa-Lobos, Sojo, Morel, Barrios-Mangoré

EMI Classics 14 6757-1

• Eliot Fisk

Dowland, Philips, Howett, Holborne, Britten and Others · EMI Classics 27 0217-1

• The Spanish Guitar

Granados, de Falla, Turina · EMI Classics 27 0216-1

External links

• Eliot Fisk official web site
• Fan site for Eliot Fisk
• Masterclass
• Paganini's Caprice No. 24
• Some photos of LP covers (Oviatt Library Digital Collections)
• Julia Crowe's Interview with Eliot Fisk.