Guitar Fantasies (Music of Bach, Mozart, Weiss, Dowland and others) Liner Notes

Guitar Fantasies

Eliot Fisk, Guitar

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

1.Prelude in C Minor, S. 999

Francois Couperin (1668-1733)

2. Les baricades misterieuses

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)

3. Rondo in A Major

Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686-1750)

4. Menuet

5. Fantasie

6. Fuge

Simone Molinaro (ca. 1565-1615)

7. Fantasia I

Luis de Milan (ca. 1500-ca. 1561)

8. Fantasia XXII from El maestro

Alonso Mudarra (ca. 1510-1580)

9. Fantasia que conrrahaze la harpa ...

Alessandro Piccinini (1566-ca. 1638)

10. Toccata XI

John Dowland (1563-1626)

11. Forlome Hope

12. Fantasia from the Varietie of Lute-lessons

Wolfgang A. Mozart (1756-1791)

13. Adagio in C Major for Glass Harmonica, K. 617a

Fernando Sor (1778-1839)

14. Introduction, Theme and Variations on a theme from Mozart's Zauberflöte, Op. 9

Wolfgang A. Mozart

15.Marche funebre del Signore Maestro

Contrapuncto in C Minor, K. 453a

Hans Werner Henze (b. 1926)

Drei Tentos from Kammermusik (1958)

16. Du schones Bachlein ...

17. Es finder das Aug' oft ...

18. Sohn Laios' ...

Albert Roussel (1869-1937)

19. Segovia, Op. 29

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)

20. Sarabande

Agustin Barrios-Mangore (1885-1944)

21. Sueno en la floresta

Eliot Fisk, Guitar

All pieces, except those by Couperin, Sor, Henze, Roussel, Poulenc, and Barrios, were transcribed by Eliot Fisk; the piece by Couperin was transcribed by Alirio Diaz.

One of the principal advantages of being a musician in the 20th century is the opportunity to experience in one lifetime the music of many epochs. In Guitar Fantasies I move back and forth in time, playing with a few of the possibilities suggested by the work of widely differing musical personalities. I've always loved

Luis Milan's definition of the fantasia contained in his El maestro, published in Valencia in 1535 or 1536. “Any work in this book ... may be called fantasia in the sense that it only comes from the fantasy and hard work of the author." Indeed, I've sometimes used this definition (or lack of one!) in selecting the pieces heard here.

I use the number three as a kind of ordering

principle. This idea comes from the three

Tentos by Hans Werner Henze (although

Maestro Henze is of course innocent of any and all transgressions I may have committed!). Thus, in the first group of fantasies Papa Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel frame one of Couperin's unforgettable harpsichord

masterpieces. Three pieces by the superb

baroque lutenist Weiss follow. This structure is

mirrored at the end of the recording by the

Tentos and pieces by Roussel, Poulenc, and,

finally, as a kind of closing encore, Barrios. In between come six (3 + 3) fantasies by various

masters of the Renaissance and early baroque

followed by two short pieces by Mozart, which

frame Sor's Variations on a theme from Die

Zauberflote. I

In the 16th century the term fantasia frequently

meant a work is often described as a sort of

forerunner employing considerable polyphony,

like Molinaro's Fantasia I, which reveals why the

fantasia to the modern fugue. The famous

"Fantasia imitating the harp in the manner of

Ludovico ... " by Mudarra (performed, with the

exception of the final flourish, exactly as it

appears in the tablature) is thus most atypical.

Indeed, at one point Mudarra cautions: "From

here until near the end there are few cross

relations ('falsas'); played well they don't sound

bad. " Piccinini's grand neo-baroque Toccata

presents the fantasy and hard work of quite

another author contrasted and complemented

respectively by two fantasies by his

predecessor, the great Elizabethan John

Dowland. It is Dowland who made the fantasia

capable of one great dramatic crescendo

culminating in utter despair, as in Forlorne

Hope, or exuberance, as in the famous Fantasia

from the Varietie of Lute-lessons (1612).

Mozart's Adagio for glass harmonica, written in

the last year of his life, seems to inhabit a

special sphere all its own, effectively

introducing the "fantastic" world of the Magic

Flute paid homage by Sor. The wellnigh

religious solemnity of Sor's opening (a quote

from act 2 of the opera) contrasts with the

theme of the rest of the work, taken from the

first act when the evil spirits are so harmed by

Papageno's magic bells that they can do

nothing but marvel "Das klinget so herrlich, das

klinget so schon ... " The tragicomic Marche

funebre, written by Mozart into the notebook of a student, sets the stage for Henze's Tentos

drawn from the Kammermusik of 1958. The

Tentos appear like brief musical soliloquies on

the meaning of the poetry of Holderlin, each

reflecting a line of the lyric poem In lieblicher

blaue, thus: "Du schones Bachlein ... " (You

lovely little brook ... ); "Es findet das Aug' oft ...

" (The eye often finds ... ); and "Sohn Laios ... "

(The son of Laios), who in Greek mythology was Oedipus.

Roussel's joyous musical portrait of Segovia

breaks this spell. Poulenc's only piece for solo

guitar, dedicated to the legendary Ida Presti,

seems to take on the dimension of a tombeau

when one thinks of the tragic and premature

death of this wonderful artist. Sueno en la

floresta (Dream in the forest) represents a

reverie of another sort. After a brief introduction

the melody is spun out in repeated notes

(tremolo) above the accompaniment provided

by the lower strings. Barrios, a fabulous

performer and improviser, here gives free rein

to his considerable instrumental fantasy.

--Eliot Fisk

Eliot Fisk is recognized worldwide as a leading

figure among the younger generation of

guitarists. Guitar enthusiasts and music lovers

at large look to him for setting new performance

standards and creating new repertoire for the

instrument with commissions as well as with his

own highly regarded transcriptions. A highly

visible recitalist and soloist with orchestras, he

also dedicates himself to integrating the guitar

into the fabric of musical life by playing

chamber music, all to carry one step further the

tradition of his great mentor, the late Andres

Segovia. Hailed by Segovia as "one of the most

brilliant, intelligent, and gifted young artists of

our times" Eliot Fisk launched his career with a

1976 recital at New York's Alice Tully Hall. In

1980, he won First Prize at the International

Classical Guitar Competition in Gargnano, Italy.

Three years later he was appointed Professor of

Guitar at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, West Germany. A native of Philadelphia, he now

maintains homes in Cologne and New York City.

Mr. Fisk's 12 recordings have received exceptional acclaim. The most recent, a duo recital with Paula Robison, includes the

premiere of Robert Beaser's Mountain Songs -

nominated for a 1987 Grammy® Award. Mr.

Fisk's transcriptions for solo guitar include the

complete solo violin music and several solo

cello works by J.S. Bach, the complete solo

Violin Caprices by Paganini, as well as works by

Frescobaldi, Froberger, Scarlatti, Soler, Haydn,

Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Granados. His transcription of Schubert's

''Arpeggione" Sonata, for double bass and

guitar, has been especially well received. His

mastery in rendering Scarlatti sonatas for the

guitar owes much to Ralph Kirkpatrick, with

whom he studied at the Yale School of Music

(graduating summa cum laude, and founding

the school's guitar department upon completion

of his master's degree). Mr. Fisk's transcriptions

are published by Ricordi. His wide-ranging

repertoire -- also including music by Britten,

Henze, Petrassi, Beaser, Bolcom, and

Takemitsu, as well as the Sequenza XI for solo

guitar written for him by Luciano Berio --

reflects his adventurous attitude toward

interpretation and allows him to deliver a deep,

visceral, and multidimensional message on this

highly popular, versatile instrument.