Rochberg: Caprice Variations - Eliot Fisk

Name: Rochberg: Caprice Variations - Eliot Fisk
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ELIOT FISK Rochberg Caprice Variations liner notes

It was Ruggiero Ricci who first told me about George Rochberg's Caprice Variations, a huge work for unaccompanied violin consisting of fifty incredibly varied variations on the theme from Paganini's Capriccio number 24. By good luck George was at that time hard at work on a piece for flute and guitar for Paula Robison and me in honor of the Centennial of Carnegie Hall. So he very kindly sent me several copies of the score of the Variations. From the first moment I laid eyes on it, I felt this was a work destined for the guitar. Even the most difficult variations seemed to suggest something the guitar had "always wanted to do but had been afraid to ask." The very premise of the Caprice Variations, what George calls the "stylistic spread," is exactly what attracted me to the classical guitar in the first place. In live performances the performer is also free to determine the number and order of the variations. Thus each version can be tailor-made to the circumstances at hand -- a proposition that cannot fail to delight any performer. Indeed, I've never played the same group twice in all the many concerts in which I have played the Caprice Variations. --Eliot Fisk

Caprice Variations for Unaccompanied Violin
1 Variation 1 - Allegro energico (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:17
2 Variation 50 - Fantasy (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 02:17
3 Caprice Variations for Unaccompanied Violin: Variation 41 - Allegro molto (after Webern's Passacaglia) (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:32
4 Variation 35 - Allegro molto. Fantastico (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:21
5 Variation 5 - Poco Agitato ma con Molto Rubato (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:12
6 Variation 20 (Quasi Cadenza) - Andante Con Molto Espressivo (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 02:47
7 Variation 7 - Presto (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:59
8 Variation 10 - Vivace (after Brahms Op. 35, Bk. 1, No. 3) (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:57
9 Variation 16 - Andante amoroso (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 02:15
10 Variation 2 - Presto (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:48
11 Variation 3 - Allegro molto e con fuoco (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:45
12 Variation 13 - Feroce energico (after Brahms Op. 35, Bk. II, No. 10) (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:59
13 Variation 39 - Elegiac; Fantastico (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:58
14 Variation 37 - Barcarolle; legatissimo e dolcissimo (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:33
15 Variation 33 - Moderato; con umore (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:36
16 Variation 18 - Allegro fantastico (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 02:17
17 Variation 4 - Poco allegro ma quasi recitando (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:54
18 Variation 14 - Alla guitarra; allegretto con molto rubato (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:43
19 Variation 6 - Poco allegretto ma con rubato (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:18
20 Variation 36 - Largo; Sereno (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 02:28
21 Variation 44 - Scherzo (after Mahler Symphony No. 5, Scherzo) (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:59
22 Variation 21 - Allegro con brio (after Beethoven Sym. No. 7, Finale) (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:47
23 Variation 25 - Scherzo (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:27
24 Variation 19, Vivace; exact rhythm throughout (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:06
25 Variation 11 - Andante (after Brahms Op. 35, Bk. 1, No. 1) (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:51
26 Variation 9 - Non troppo presto (after Brahms Op. 35, Bk. 1, No. 2) (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:44
27 Variation 17 - Poco adagio, molto rubato (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 03:16
28 Variation 12 - Andante con moto (after Brahms Op. 35, Bk. 1, No. 12) (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:41
29 Variation 34 - Molto adagio (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:34
30 Variation 24 - Allegretto (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:42
31 Variation 28 - Molto agitato (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:15
32 Variation 32 - Allegro assai; burlesco (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:56
33 Variation 8 - Languido (after Schubert Waltz, Op. 9, No. 22) (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:47
34 Variation 49 - Feroce (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:18
35 Variation 15 - Con grazia; un poco agitato (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:00
36 Variation 29 - Lento ma non troppo (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 02:03
37 Variation 46 - Bravura; sempre recitando; in the "grand manner" (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:37
38 Variation 47 - Arabesque; fantastico (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:39
39 Variation 22 - Molto espressivo e cantando (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:38
40 Variation 30 - Poco allegretto e leggiero (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:39
41 Variation 48 - Moderately fast; fantastico (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:59
42 Variation 43 - Andantino (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:40
43 Variation 40 - Robust; do not rush (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:56
44 Variation 42 - Nocturnal; Slow (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:41
45 Variation 23 - Andante grazioso e tranquillo (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 02:48
46 Variation 27 - Aria (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 02:45
47 Variation 45 - Presto (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:19
48 Variation 26 - Con brio (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:36
49 Variation 31 - Molto adagio (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 02:51
50 Variation 38 - Can-can tempo; presto (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 01:05
51 Variation 51 - Quasi robusto (Paganini's theme from Caprice XXIV, Bk. II) (arr. for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk) 00:30

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This collaboration with Eliot Fisk has been a great joy for me.

What he has done in adapting this work to the guitar from the original solo violin version is no less than a "recomposition." Besides producing an unbelievable extension of guitar technique, he has at the same time explored and utilized every conceivable expressive possibility of the instrument. No composer I can think of could have imagined these possibilities. One would have to be a guitarist/ artist of Fisk's caliber to be able to imagine what he, in fact, did.

There are many "borrowings," in the Caprice Variations. For example, I took some variations from Brahms' two sets of Paganini 24th Caprice Variations for the piano and transcribed them for solo violin. "Borrowing" is a time-honored tradition; no period in the history of music has been without it. There are some, of course, who are offended by the idea or concept of "borrowing" but it is quite acceptable to today's musicians.

Many different styles, asthetics, attitudes live side by side in this work. As a whole it represents Paganini, a host of earlier and later composers, myself -- and now in this version, Eliot Fisk.
-George Rochberg

11/29/2024

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