Rare Gutiar Video: Eliot Fisk plays Barrios

[NapkinQueen]

THAT SOUNDS FUCKING HARD!!

[limacch]

Amazing! Fisk was once a good interpreter, What happened?

[theoden707]

2:15... what amazing presence this artist displays. I miss my time studying with him so much!!

[musicman19gtr]

Wich piece of music by Barrios does Mr Fisk play in this video? Thanks

[RareGuitarVC]

@musicman19gtr

Junto a tu corazon

[ricard]

so does anybody know the name of this piece? also I'm not a huge fan of eliot fisk either but this was very fun and interesting

[Vladislaw81]

It's impossible to be a good guitarist after Fisk.

[GyveTurckee]

The only thing I don't like about this guy is his poor sound production in general. I know it's a constant battle for classical guitarists but its not like his contemporaries and his predecessors didn't overcome the same problem.

[gitarre1987]

very outstanding performance!

[insaneguitarfreak]

Hey, I´m not really a fan of his work, but i REALLY FUC$%NG ENJOYED this interpretation

[ChrisHaspeck]

got to love the internet.

Who is Elliot Fisk ?

I'd never heard of him.

THanks to the internet I now have. His playing is great.

That piece was

 OUTSTANDING !!

[DJtheband]

cool song, really well done

[MrCroatianguitarist]

I was studying with eliot for 5 years. if you do not know the harmony, if you do not have an idea of a piece then neither you can tell if it is right or wrong.

1 st yeaR we worked on technique, 2 nd on a harmony and others interprertation.

to understand his playing you first have to learn what rubato is .

Fraggle... please take the metronome and try to follow his interpretation

[tomward8]

Luckily i didn't. Fisk's concert was fantastic. He played a variety of different styles from the Berio sequenza to a Bach partita. His understanding of the harmony in the Bach was deep and he reminded me not of Kuijken, Leonhardt or Bylsma who bring out the emotion of each key in their Bach so well but of Glenn Gould who's own personality comes out when playing Bach. I stayed for the whole concert and all 7 encores!

[tomward8]

part 2.... Though boring concerts they were still less boring than Denis Azabagic and less rough than Shin-ichi Fukuda who i think was having a very bad day. When it came time to see Fisk I was starting to wonder if i should go to a piano, orchestra or violin concert instead of another guitarist.

[tomward8]

In the chaconne Barrueco seemed to have no understanding of dissonance and resolution and the Vivaldi had every first beat pronounced and sounded like there was a metronome in Russell's guitar put there just to stop the short fast passages from sounding free. I Know these two guitarist's are very famous but if you've ever heard someone who can really play baroque music such as Sigiswald Kuijken or Gustav Leonhardt you will understand why I left both these concerts in the interval.

[tomward8]

Fisk is a great guitarist! I recently went to about 5 guitar festivals in Europe. I saw boring guitarist after boring guitarist. I saw Russell and Barrueco who both had wonderful tone production and great technique but other than a few pieces everything they played was played the same way and hardly musical. Barrueco's Bach chaconne and russell's Vivaldi were real low points.

[richardlerox]

@tomward8 : In all honesty... who cares about Fisk, Russell, Barrueco...

when you have players that are miles better... like -> Pavel Steidl, Ricardo Gallén, Zoran Dukić, Zoran Anic, Petra Poláčková, Marek Pasieczny, Kaltchev Guitar Duo, Elena Càsoli etc.

[RootsinBrooklyn]

Yours seems to be some sort of Platonic orthodoxy ("ideal sound"). tI dare say that if evryone subscribed to it, there would be maybe 3 or 4 musicians, perhaps 5 painters, 2 dancers, and 3 sculptors in the entire world.

Fisk may not play like 'so and so', but he is dedicated, accomplished, and playing his best. If you don't enjoy it, no reason to get off on flighty theories about "social personality" and such. Just click to someone's playing you do enjoy.

[zeev29]

i'm not suggesting they all sound exactly the same but they follow some rules that make them sound alike. what i mean is that someone not following the rules is how arts have been evolving since the beginning.

[aks73]

The more this guy plays the better he makes John Williams look...

[zeev29]

i think it's great that he shows a different way of playing... there's no use in having that many guitar players if they all sound the same. no music is made or played to be liked by everyone..

[pengeaumont270508]

Still isnt great thouh

[pengeaumont270508]

By his usual standard, this isnt too bad.

[Fragglestickcar666]

Even on easy pieces he can't stay on time. This one is especially sloppy in the middle, can't he press the strings down, he's always buzzing.

[wolllfang]

I found this performance one of the nicest examples of Fisk's playing. It's an interesting piece, rarely played and IMHO very demanding. Thanks for sharing.

[kdang1]

Fisk is not really a virtuoso, neither guitarist nor a musician. 95% of people think he is a monkey, but dare not say it.

[peplicus]

Don´t understand your irony or logic. He plays the guitar, makes his living off it, therefore he´s at least a guitarrist. He plays music, makes his living off it, therefore, he´s at least a musician of some sort. As for being a virtuoso, you say not really without defining your terms and then add the 95% (of who) think he´s a "monkey". You dare use those false statistics. Why not post something instructive about him or his playing, either for or against?

[kdang1]

I discovered Barrios through a music partition. I bought the latin CD of Fisk and was very disappointed. I started to think that Barrios worth nothing. A few month later by chance, i heard Barrueco, and others, who makes me love the real music of Barrios. Now i perceive that Fisk destroys everything he played, not only Barrios, but all others(hear the BWV 999 of Bach played by him) .You might be a very good technician on guitar but if you do not understand what you are playing, you are a monkey

[carefreemusic]

LOL... I believe he did not played it in the way we believe guitar music should be play for us to enjoy. BUT music is subjective, other ppl have rights to choose wat they like. Fisk is technically impressive so some ppl enjoys tt.

[sbridgefield]

Fisk reminds me of Picasso in alot of ways. Initially, Picasso was regarded as one of the best figure artists ever. Then he went off to explore new areas of his art, and was criticized for it. Fisk's early recordings are beautiful. His later stuff shows him expanding things quite a bit, like Miles Davis did during his Bitches Brew period. Davis was criticized also. Fisk is a genius. Period.

[Rexicano]

@sbridgefield

the comparison to Picasso is so off the mark;

Picasso was a Master of many styles.

The only guitarist I see with his abilities in music is Pierre Bensusan.

Or the late Michael Hedges.

If you don't have the ability to compose and improvise then you have no comparison to Picasso as a musician. Reading Sheet Music written by others is not what Picasso was all about at all.

[ivaltierrez]

I don't know why people talk bad about Fisk. 95% of people who comment bad about him can't even play nearly half as good as him. Just because you prefer other guitarists interpretation of the same musical pieces he plays, doesn't make Fisk a bad player.

[spruceorcedar]

wew....Alas, this seems to be okay. well done. But i still have my big doubts about fisk. For me, he's STILL a big joke. I can't get over his horrible playing of 24 caprice

[yalcinserkanyalcin]

Hey Folks,

Do not judge him by listening to his live renditions. He really enters into showman position. Just listen his recordings. For example, listen this piece here and in his latin American CD. Huge difference in terms of interpretation and musical quality. His latin American CD shows real abd best Fisk.

[albenizski]

i've listened to his recordings and it's not bad, he's really good especially caprice number 5..

[capnpayne]

he looks to be about 18 here

[kikkom4n]

elliot fisk looks almost exactly like andy dick

[gitarre1987]

Eliot is the best!!

[insaneguitarfreak]

I don´t listen to Elliot Fisk... , but I have to say I REALLY enjoyed this one!

[marlonguitarist]

I still can't get how someone with such careless playing can be so famous...

[jllobet]

The reason is Segovia one day got drunk and told him he was a good guitarist, LOL

[thejugglenaut91]

he must've been absolutely hammered

[capnpayne]

sorry that you can't understand

[marlonguitarist]

I don't see any videos of you playing, so either you don't want to show your virtuosismo, or you understand much less...

Look at Fisk playing El colibrí...it is a disaster. Conversely people like John Williams, David Russell or Marco Tamayo have dazzling versions.

[capnpayne]

have you seen fisk perform in person? listened to his albums? heard other, world-famous guitarists talk about him? played for him? no, but i have. he's an incredible musician, guitarist, and person, and your failure to appreciate his playing is just that: a failure.

[thejugglenaut91]

he's a horrible guitarist... who have you heard talk about him? Last I checked, even his live reviews are terrible from critics. He teaches in my city, boston. In the neighboring conservatory to mine. I've had a master class with him. It's like he fights it every step of hte way, he even looks like it. I mean, even his facial expression is just horrendous. That is not hte face of someone who has music flowing from their soul.

He was the wrong person at the right time. That's all.

[Dhammawitt]

I think he should've been an excellent mathematician, but guitarist?

[goyroyni]

He is, too. The guitar is a highly mathematical instrument. Listen to these top-notch players talk and you'll be stunned by their logical prowess.

[Dhammawitt]

Or you could just listen to him play guitar...:)

Players like this are rarely scoffed by average listeners due the simple fact that: He can play the guitar. But as a musician myself as well as opinions alike, he's hardly the 'musical' type, absolutely no passion, just technique to further his 'successful' career. He thinks technically with the guitar as you would mathematics, YOU DONT WANT THAT with a passionate instrument like a guitar, you want to FEEL the unknown and life experiences.

[goyroyni]

The passion is there, it's perhaps just not YOUR (or whomever's) idea of passion.

Mathematical passion is the ultimate and most unselfish form of passion. You love mathematical approaches/ideas/objects purely for what they are and not for being of direct use to you.

Music's ultimate objective is to awaken the senses. And there many ways to wake up. Some prefer to wake up abruptly. Some slowly, taking their time. Some go straight to work, others take a walk in a park first.

Welcome to Fisk's way.

[Dhammawitt]

"Mathematical passion is the ultimate and most unselfish form of passion"

Are you making this up? I dont know of any musicologist that could get away with something so foolish. Do you realize the oxymoron of Mathematical Passion.

They're 2 different sides of the brain!!

Musics goal is to awaken the senses??

Really? Another made up theory that is poorly thought. How about to express the soul??

Eliots playing is a great example of how NOT to express passion.

[goyroyni]

I couldn't care less about the opinions of musicologists that have been taught that mathematical and musical thought are mutually exclusive (and never cared to widen their views ever after).

Mathematical Passion is an oxymoron only for those unlucky enough to have never understood what math is really about. You might be the majority but this, frankly, isn't my fault.

Yes, to awaken the senses. Why else would you bother to 'express the soul' ? Restricted to that, it's just self-satisfaction.

[peplicus]

Fisk is a very sensual and passionate player. His technique doesn´t always hold up, but, he´s admirable because he takes risks. He certainly awakens the senses and is exciting; why, so exciting, that even his mistakes make your heart beat faster. What the ¨%#$@ are people looking for in performances? Perfection? Or something exciting? Fisk is certainly an exciting guitarrist.

[luisbadolato]

yeah, he excites the hell out of me!

[Aurelius27x]

@peplicus haha, kind of true... I suppose it's a duality. Like what would world peace mean without a threat of war? Or happiness without possibility of sadness... they just would not exist.

[gitarre1987]

@peplicus Fisk is so musical! Yeah!

[theviciousmagdiel]

@peplicus You have a very good point, however i believe that one should have modesty when performing another individual's work. His interpretation is very, and most definitely, very theatrical, but passes the line and seems pompous at times. He lacks the humility needed to possibly satisfy the message of the composer. He is no doubt a talented player, but like any human being, we all have our fallacies and try to reach perfection (which is impossible). He seems indifferent about the composer.

[RangRing68]

@peplicus it just proves that classical guitar is harder to master than classical piano, especially in a live performance situation. i agree with you.

[iamJROD]

@RangRing68 ... Thats true, the guitar is a 100% physical instrument,so that makes it much harder to master. The piano is a mechanical instrument. To play the guitar the fingers create the sound,and they have to be placed precisely. On the piano the hammer creates the sound, and the fingers dont always have to be placed precisely, in fact you can play notes on the piano with your elbow. Thats the difference between a physical instrument,and a mechanical instrument.

[RangRing68]

@iamJROD you know what you're talking about. great point about the elbow! :)

[llgarcial]

This is another great video of Eliot. The guitar sounds beautiful. Fleta?

[UFCBroadcast]

"Close to your heart Waltz" beautifully played !