Eliot Fisk
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Added: 5 years ago
From: guitarfestival
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  • I first heard of him a long time ago, this is the first time listening, Outstanding player

  • I had no idea the head can be used as metronome!

  • wow.... This is the first time I loved his performance! This is probably the best performance of Sevilla I've heard... But yes like many, I don't enjoy his paganini Caprice 24..... Despite that he played this piece GREAT...

  • just because he doesn't play like barrueco doesn't mean he's bad. he plays with passion, and really brings this piece to life. i love listening to him, despite all the string rattling and buzzing.

  • his technique may not be the best (not saying its bad), but he has true passion and shows a lot of feelings when he plays

  • Awesome timbre variation!

  • In fact i will bet not one off the 74 dislikers will be able to keep his speed and precision. really incredible perfomance.

  • incredible perfomance. Just try

  • One day we will have a computer-generated guitarist, with a computer-generated guitar, complete with computer-generated music ... and then, maybe, the musically ignorant morons who don't have a clue about playing a guitar will be happy. As regards Fisk: Thank god he's not just one more sound-alike, cookie-cutter guitarist wannabes. As they say in France, "Viva La Diférence!"

  • I rather enjoy Fisk's approach, as I agree this piece is best expressed with a slight (or not so slight) sense of abandon.

  • HEY ALL OF YOU!

    THIS IS A REAL SPAIN! IN ALL IT'S BEAUTY!

  • He's playing it like his lunch break is about to end...

  • Not the better, but the most funny interpretation i have heard. He never tought to change his music's style to flamenco? Haha.

  • wow!!!!

  • That is a very fierce approach to this piece. Still getting used to it.

  • the best I ever heard! Fisk is the man!

  • God, has he ever thought of changing to Heavy Metal? :0

  • I feel sorry for his guitar! I have never heard this piece played so exagerated. Too heavy handed for my taste,but unlike all those Fisk haters, I still have respect for him. of all the pieces he's played on youtube this one is probably the best. I saw him live about 15 years ago and he played Luciano Berio's Sequenza; that was very painfull to listen to as well as funny to watch.

  • Another butcher job by Fisk. Gawd, this guy sucks. If Julian Bream had been in the audience, he would have smacked Fisk with a cricket bat.

  • The only exposure i've had to Eliot Fisk is on youtube, and i find him painful to watch. if i avert my eyes and just listen, it seems to improve the experience. music is mostly about sound anyway, right? one thing i notice about many other guitarists is that they seem to have a little love affair with the piece they are playing, sort of going on a journey together, guitarist and music. Mr. Fisk seems to commit date rape with the piece.

  • BRAVO, ELIOT!

  • I think the guy has ADHD.

  • @Aurelius27x  lol he is playing it hyper-agitated. Doesn't remind me of Spain when he does it...

  • this guy is just a joke... very funny haha...

  • Very expressive.

  • wunderschöne Interpretation!

  • I usually dont like Sevilla but this interpretation made me love it!

  • Nice speed, I love this piece!

    Fisk was really exciting while he was playing it!

  • Check out "Ricardo Havenstein" & "Gerret Lebuhn" on iTunes.

    They are students of Mr. Fisk.

  • Definitely not a fan, but he does evoke some of Segovia's wide variations in sound qualities. This is MUCH better than other things I have seen by Fisk. Even reminds me of the spirit of Bream in interpretation (NOT in purity!)

  • id like to see you play that loud and with that much emotion while still keeping it at clean and distinct as he does.

  • But this isn't clean. And what does playing really loud matter?

  • agree with you dude..

    he kinda suck...

  • @pengeaumont270508 It's certainly not bad. He's not as precise as a lot of the other guitarists, but his energy is really exciting. He gets the notes out fine in my opinion. I mean seriously, listen to the applause he gets! it's unbelievable!

  • I know what you're saying. I just think a guitarist as famous as he is should be able to have these energy level and have great precision levels too. Bream for example plays with much for life and excitement and has a fantastic technique.

  • @pengeaumont270508 yeah, i know some guys who got to see him and they said it sucked. I mean you're right, after seeing ana vidovic and gabriel bianco this guy's playing sounds rather mediocre. You're right about bream, he is the man.

  • This is bizarre playing.

  • What I hear is Fisk making sure that the phrasing of the piece are nailed and with tremendous dynamics.

    If some notes are sacrificed I think that it is for the betterment of the beauty and the drama of the composers work. I think very highly of his playing and enjoy listening to it thoroughly.

    My opinion, of course.

  • Check out "Ricardo Havenstein" and "Gerret Lebuhn" on iTunes. They are students of Mr. Fisk...

    Great!!!

  • Comment removed

  • Aiuto, sembra Bossi col chitarrino :O

  • Non sei mica l'unico che si accorge che assomiglia a Bossi, a tutti quelli che faccio vedere un suo video mi dicono che sembra Bossi!

  • ihihihi, ah sì? ghghghgh...

    Beh, un motivo in più per gettare il Fi(a)sk(o) nel water e tirare pure l'acqua. :D :D :D

  • vero.. ahahahahah

  • I like this video! Sure he messes up, but he really goes for it. It's entertaining to watch at the very least. Plus, I like the fact that he head bangs, lol. Totally metal \m/

  • Fisk is terrible and sloppy as always. And he BWPguy below me, fisk has never done anything worse than paganini's caprices, he ruined them more than anything, that truly made me angry. I could play them better after the first day of learning them than this a-hole...so could anayone, fisk is disgrace, niccolo would have murdered him for what he did.

  • You know what makes me angry, assholes who are not even half the level of Fisk and will come and rip him down anonymously. Assholes who have probably never played live ever, and never will. Assholes who think they're musical for spotting others' mistakes, but wouldn't hear a quarter of their own. It's so easy to cut others down, you must think it makes you sound knowledgeable, in fact it really shows what an ignorant unmusical asshole you are, I see it, and so does everyone else. Grow up.

  • Agreed. It's one thing to be critical, but it gets ugly when people just lash out and berate a genuinely good artist like Fisk. I just ignore such comments, I would rather encourage such people to post videos of their own demonstrating how they avoided the mistakes that they feel Fisk made. ( I would even discount the fact they aren't playing in a concert hall)

  • I agree that a lot of people on here who slate his playing probably aren't as good as him. Theres no denying though that his playing is very untidy, and even if he have any musical ideas they're very shallow ones. i can honestly say that i can play this with more technical accuracy than he does here.

  • Why not put a video of your playing on youtube so we can see the real reason why you love to hate Fisk so much?

  • Firstly, if you feel like buying/lending me some recording equipment i'd be happy to. Secondly, even if my playing wasn't as good, its besides the point because im not a famous concert guitarist. And thirdly, i am critical of his playing but i don't hate him! There's nothing wrong with constructive criticism.

  • Sorry to have used that word "hate" I know you don't hate him. And even though I can't afford to finance your career, maybe you could offer some guitar coaching to Mr. Fisk, I'm sure he'd pay you well.

  • I think if Fisk sorted himself out he could play a lot cleaner. He just seems to have a very weird sense of musicality and an uncontrollable desire to show off.

  • I remember going to see him play live. I didn't expect much, only because other classical guitarists at the Univ. where I studied said he wasn't impressive. But sitting just a few feet in front of him and hearing him blaze into a few fortissimo scalar runs was enough to show me that when he nails a passage, it's powerful, original and very inspiring to hear. I think your conception of the guitar is very respectable, but I also think Fisk deserves the status he enjoys.

  • Yeh thats fair enough, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I personally don't find his playing very exciting..

  • agree...this is not the way to play guitar...not today...maybe in segovia's time but NOT today...

  • Everybody do yourself a favour and get the CD - 24 Pagannini Caprices..by Elliot Fisk..he plays ALL 24 ..ALL of them....go ahead and try them be my guest ...best of luck.

  • but they sound like crap...so your point is????? su meng, wang yameng, li jie, et al all blow him away.

  • That double-noted run at 3:00 amazes me. It's probably a common technique, but how does he do it? Is he plucking forward and backward with P while alternating with I and M?

  • Its called a Trill,its pretty difficult,you will never learn it if you practise it in mind thinking its two hand movments,you need to think of it as just one movment.

  • That's not a trill

  • Agree, that's nothing like a trill, but yes, the "one movement" idea is a valid way of looking at it.

  • No, I know what a trill is. It's almost right at 3:00. In this run, he's doubling the 16th notes an octave apart, and it looks like he's picking the lower notes with his thumb.

  • ah I see what you meen thats is NOT a trill. I think I'll ask my guitar teacher,who was taught by Stanley yates,and has played all over the world,He will know Im sure.

  • I think it's only one thumb stroke, but yes, the usual (i, m) alternation.

  • Eliot Fisk Reefs :D

  • speedy playing , give the listener a breath !

  • best version of sevilla i have ever heard!

  • jesus!!!!!!! coisa mas linda!!!!

  • Fantastico! Bravoo ! = D

  • Xuefei Yang*

  • Fish

  • Ja, undrade först om han va skandinavisk... men det va han inte...

  • whiners everywhere...

  • Comment removed

  • He is wearing a dangerous scarf there, I can't deny him that, and it is interesting that allmdiym sees him as a mad man in "the zone", this puts Fisk in a whole new light. The piece is still Conquistador music though, lol.

  • he looks mad scientist to me thats all i love this version so much it gets like 3 plays a day this and ana vidaaa whatevers toborros castellena great songs :)

  • Scheisse.

  • a mad man in the zone i like dudes a beast

  • Now bring on the hate my milky white elitists. I can't wait for your crybaby asses to start spamming my mailbox! lol...........In the meantime there is an old RCA Masterworks series vinyl record that features Alirio Diaz playing Albeniz and it is the balls!

  • He doesn't get his "ghetto pass" until he can show that he speaks Spanish. Face it my pasty monkeys, this is the "latin experience" and this is where a "latino" as you like to call us tells you to mow his lawn instead of the other way around. Now go fuck yourselves all and dream of having latin blood pump through your pasty melanin challenged bungholes. The music of Albeniz makes me cry and laugh simultaneously. Makes the Spanish conquest almost justifiable I am afraid to say.

  • I get what you're saying, similar things apply when other people try to do Indian music or dance. However, that is not to say that sometimes non-Indians (or non-Spanish people as the case were) can sometimes take up an art that is not culturally theirs and do as well or better than the people who were born into that culture. This guy is awesome, there is no denying that, even though he's not Spanish.

  • Who the hell am I? I am nobody just another stupid You Tube critic, lol. There is a English guy named John McLaughlin who is the reason I started to take guitar seriously. When John played in Shakti, it didn't matter that he wasn't Indian. I understand what you are saying and good for you for standing up to a jerk like myself for Mr. Fisk. I am sure he would be grateful, hehehe. Cheers.

  • eliot fisk speaks and teaches in spanish, along with several other languages

  • oh ahaahha and i just forgot, fisk won a medal from THE KING OF SPAIN for his performance of spanish music

  • err just remembered

  • @capnpayne cuz the king probably doesnt know much about the guitar

  • @capnpayne Niceeeeeee

    

  • He is beating the crap out of this wonderful piece. Mr. Fisk is a master but not Spanish and therefore is "missing it". Hey I am not black but still give funk music my all, all the while knowing I am not black and do not have it. Can't blame a guy for trying.

  • OMG!!! that´s a brilliant interpretation of Sevilla by Isaac Albeniz, i think Fisk LIVE this song. 5/5 EXELENT.

  • I'm tired of all these people who come on Youtube, trashing other peoples' guitar skills. I'll bet most of them have never even touched a guitar in their lived. Eliot Fisk is "the" name in classical guitar for a reason - he's one of the best.

  • goofball sucks.

  • Slow down cowboy

  • All of us interested in the classical guitar will have heard it played technically better, but this is a real performance. We need more performances of serious guitar music like this.

    There is real passion in his playing.

  • Nope! Sorry! I cannot stand by and keep quiet.He

    is a Butcher and a Hack! I don't need to put up any

    video's of my own.I'll refer the Fisk Groupies to

    video's of Manuel Barrueco,Denis Azabagic,David

    Russell,John Williams,James Kline,Andy York,

    Ben Bolt,Scott Tennant. Need I say more?

  • Not a fan of his playing.

  • let Fisk be Fisk !!!! you be you !!!!

    i will be Me... Michael Camp

    who are you ?

    for all the Haters :

    instead of bashing Fisk, Put up your vids, lets see how much more brilliant they may be !!!

  • I don't know what to say,he has some psyhical qualities and attitude that a lot don't have,but he also has a bit of dirty playing.If he would focus a little on his sound,he would be even better.Sometimes you can not just feel something and want to say it,you also have to express it clearly and say the hole words not just gesticulate and try as hard as you can to express it as powerful as you can.A little clean up is all he needs.But for that you must have patience,and he is a very hasty person

  • you are obviously the one who doesn't have any patience

  • Comment removed

  • I think there's a difference between an individual being stressed out, allowing sympathetic tension, and a person like Fisk who is clearly relaxed but looks tense because he's in his own little world when he's playing.

    It's incredibly ridiculous to claim he is sloppy when clearly he is not and when he quite clearly has command over the instrument, enough so to be able to step out of the text book and into reality, which in my opinion is an invaluable ability.

  • Judging by all of the videos of masters I have seen, I must say that Elliot Fisk is probrably my least favorite.

    But, he is still a great player, he just isn't the best or anything.

  • I think fisk is more a flamenco player den classical to me. He has great sense of rhythm but his tone not very good. I mayb wrong feel free to critise this comment.

  • RAPE!!!

  • EXCELLENT!!

  • I think my comment was a litle harsh.

    This piece sounds so messy because he's trying to be innovative and different with his interpretation.

    I bet if he meant to play this normally, monotone, and metronomed, it would sound just like Williams'.

  • No..

  • Lovely.. Some parts of this piece.. He's superb at catching the happe and dancing parts of the piece, altough.. sometimes he makes them too fast..

    And his facial expression are just hilarious! XD

    Sum: Eliot Fisk is GREAT! And NOT overrater!

  • Im sorry i dont mean to sound rude, but how can you describe that as great. Great guitarists are players like bream, williams, russell, kraft etc. This guy is nothing compared to them. He also maybe isnt overrated because judging by alot of the comments bellow, he isnt highly rated at all.

  • No.. Great is for people like Fisk, SUPERB is for people like Williams, Yepes and Segovia.

    I don't think Bream fals into the catagory of SUPERB but higher than Fisk..

    And he's at least Not rated above those.. So he can't be overrated! ;)

  • I really couldnt disagree more. Bream is a phenomenal player as is williams. Segovia was great because he was the first and revolutionary, (and very good). But yepes was average, no where near the above, and fisk is just awful. at least in all the performances i've seen him give. There is no musicality at all in the interpretation, and his technique is the reason its so messy. He'd never play it as accuratley as williams, no matter how hard he tried. (Check out the paganini caprice)!

  • Yepes????? AVERAGE????????????????

    Holy shit dude, Yepes deserves a lot more credit than that.

    Yepes was one of the greatest guitarists to DEFINE the sound of Spain through guitar.

  • Jesus christ I think I've played this better before ffs.

  • For such a famous name, so messy. John Williams in another league.

  • He has to be the most over rated people in the world! This is just bad. He's tryig to play a very hard piece way to fast, way beyond his ability (to show off), but he misses as many notes as he hits. Then to cap it he starts making ridiculous faces and wiggling his arse around. What a weirdo. Im very open to interpretation on this piece, but to be a world famous concert guitarist you have to be able to hit 99% of the notes clean, and make the guitar sound beautiful. He does neither.

  • This is incredible good played for a hard piece like this, it is not as sloppy as many youtubers say:-O

    It sounded good to me;-)

  • OK??

    FISK is the norwegian name for fish

  • There's something strange about Fisk - almost like he's a little crazy. He pushes almost every piece past its technical limitations for the instrument. The result is always a relatively sloppy performance. Not so bad here, but if you really want to see what I mean, check him on Paganini's Caprice 24. Holy crap! Don't get me wrong, I think he is enormously talented - just exhibits no self control.

  • well said bro. Fuck eliot fisk. Ya, he can rip. But do you honeslty consider it ripping when its not even close to clean? Listen to players like manuel baruecco, david russell, thomas viloteau, marcin dylla, etc. and there are some incredible players. you know

  • Holy crap Andy Dick at 0:36! haha

    (dont mean to offend, just noticed the similarity lol)

  • I'm not a great Fisk fan, but this is brilliant. He's captured the mood by approaching the piece in an almost impetuous manner.

  • Sevilla roxx da house!

  • Music is the best thing there is besides love. Love of music that spends a lifetime growing into more music is the best gift.

    I think you can tell Fisk understands that. Its in the spirit of the sound of his music.

    I thank all these great musicians for their gift, the gift they have that they in turn give away.

    And want to point out to the people who disparage a musician who has such a spirit, that they, the critic, are missing something essential in the heart of music

  • love me please I am lonely:(

  • OMG im surprised at the ignorance of many of you people. This is his interpretation of the song, and its a very good interpretation. Hes not trying to play it strict like most people do, alot of classical music is not played like that and is meant to be open for interpretation.

  • I 100% agree.

  • haha. In my opinion this is the best song Fisk plays but it's still the worst performance of the song. Go figure - even when he's good he sux.

  • Comment removed

  • But not today.

  • type 69 if ur hrny lol xD

    HAHAH WHAT MSG me on M.S.N. nS

  • The butcher strikes again...and again....and

    again!!

  • and Win. xD!

  • Interesting that so many people love him. For me this is a horrible version. Mr. Anti Tone. Maby he cannot hear like Beethoven what he plays? Ununderstandable for a proffesional guitarist.

  • Total command of the instrument, original musical ideas, makes the guitar sing. Fantastic!

    (Perhaps a bit too violent on the basses at times but other than that very emotional and textured musical playing)

  • Magnifico!! la versión de un verdadero maestro!!

  • Bravisimo Elliot!!!!

  • 0k Elliot Fisk is the best, what u dont understand Mr Clean? did you mean that segovia is stupid?

  • I couldn't help but smile while watching this. He's so full of energy and enthusiasm. People are so critical because they think you can put classical technique in a box. Each player has their own unique and earnest style. Just look at Fisk here. :D

  • Filomena Moretti's version is more beautiful, but Fisk's is more....well... NUTS!!!

  • what is it with you people jealousy? knock those you will never touch in even your wildest dreams

  • No one is jealous,Fool. We're disgusted.

  • Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • maestro fue gratificante haberlo tenido en Colombia

  • please tell me you are kidding

  • Comment removed

  • I made many in my previous statements.Read

    them.

  • He is definitely one of the best and most important guitarists of our time!

  • I´ ve not commented that. Fisk is different - with his own style. You are a bit rude!

  • "Different" is a more accurate description!

    And don't be so hyper-sensitive. Jeez!

  • sin desmerecerlo williams supera esta version lejos y sin tanto circo.

  • whether you like him or not no one can say that he isn't an intense player.

  • intense, that he is

  • Revenge of the nerds!!! Fisk was the first Classical guitarist I heard. Maybe he has pee really bad lol

  • Ouch; he just plows his way through like a farmer in the field with a runaway horse. Takes all the charm out of the piece.

    I don't know what looks dorkier; that ascot or his little thigh stand...or his gestures. Barruecos, Williams, Segovia...all play this with more respect to the composer. Try Decaf next time?

  • I'd say Barrueco/Williams are the ones insulting the composer. But if the score is the piece, then you probably missed it.

  • You got some of that ham stuck up between your ears.

  • And boy does it taste good. All the best food is thoroughly lard soaked. Everyone loves bacon, right? You're welcome to the Williams and Barrueco...they're great interpretations as well. Notes be damned (and uhh...yeah, its not bad here, other times, you're right), this is the one I'd rather listen to.

  • Adam del Monte's version is best, i think.

  • Eliot Fisk is always concerned with SPEED.He

    is pretty uptight & it shows in his playing!

    What a retard! Definately not someone I look

    up to.

  • Its all about his interpretation of the piece and as an artist he should play it how he feels the piece. I don't know, just my opinion I thought he did a good job and I don't think all these people sitting on their computers should be bashing a person doing what he loves.

  • I don't think anyone's bashing his interpretation... in fact, it's not bad. But the way he chooses to bring it across is what's causing people to hate on his performances. He's such a show-off... look at this facial expressions starting at 0:35, that's all the proof you need.

  • Ayer lo vi en concierto, espectacular

  • ppfffffffftttttttttttt!

  • Fisk butchers again... Bravo

  • didn't like it. Very inconsistent rhythm, doesn't let some phrases BREATHE at all, and his 'innovations' didn't thrill me at all. One the few times I've heard this piece without enjoying it.

  • im glad he doesnt play as retarded as he looks when playing...

  • i like his style... i think it's good to hear something different some times.

  • man eliot fisk destroys every piece of music there is....

  • what the hell is this..........Uh *coughs* I mean... great performance....fisk is the man. really brings out the emotion. takes us right to spain. This is probably the most amazing performance ever. And this is probably the most sarcastic comment i've left.

  • what the hell is this..Uh *coughs* I mean... great performance..fisk is the man. really brings out the emotion. takes us right to spain. This is probably the most amazing performance ever. And this is probably the most sarcastic comment i've left.

  • I can write for you any sheet music

  • all the bits that need to sound sweet do.this particular piece is a dance lets not forget so the rhythm is most important,the aggression with which it is played here is i think the way that albeniz would have wanted it to sound as his ideas for this one would have been conjured up images of andalucian's dancing and playing with i would imagine rather heavy hands. it is the best i've heard anyone do it so far so if anyone knows any better please let me know.

  • Amen, elguitarolerno