DIMITRIS SGOUROS LIVE COMMMERCIAL RECORDINGS FROM AUSTRALIA — 1987 & 1989

A YOUNG MAN OBSESSED WITH MUSIC

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, TUE 24 JAN 1989, Page 12

By: STEPHEN KIRBY 

Gifted Greek pianist Dimitris Sgouros is master of the ivory - but what is he really like?

STEPHEN KIRBY reports

THE image of the crisply attired concert pianist Dimitris Sgouros, poised at the ivory ready to enchant, is one with which many discerning concert goers will be familiar. It seemed, then, an interesting challenge to probe beneath the exterior of the world renowned pianist. Does he ever feel that life has passed him by? Does he ever yearn, as might an Australian 19 year old, to flee the concert hall and throw himself into the tumultuous surf? The answer, it would seem, is no.

When you pry behind the persona of the polished musician, you simply find another polished musician. But this is no more than one might have expected; after all, as the film Dimitris at 14 revealed, this was a boy whose hands unconsciously manipulated an imaginary keyboard even when he was supposed to be sunbathing. This extraordinary obsession with music has led to a career which has already dwarfed many contemporary pianists. As a result, the promoter has an unusual problem - how to accommodate all the superlatives.

At his tender age, Sgouros has gained the sort of reviews most pianists would kill for. In what amounted to a virtual laying on of hands, the dying Rubinstein heard him play and called him "the best pianist I have ever heard". (Sgouros himself said modestly, "I have been lucky enough to have already had many special moments in my career, but I think that was one of the most memorable".)

Rostropovich, who conducted him at the age of 12 in Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto, called him a "miracle - a creation from God". On his first tour here in 1987, critics competed with each other to find new superlatives: "a rare musical soul", "staggering", "the pianist one had been waiting for all one's life" - even "the critic is left searching for words to do it justice".

In what is a first for the tour of a classical performer in Australia, promoter Michael Edgley has released a CD of Sgouros's 1987 solo performances here in Melbourne (MEI-CD-42427-A). What those of us lucky to have heard him two years ago probably remember best is the great romantic verve and seemingly effortless ease of his playing. Those qualities certainly appear clearly in this recording, particularly in Chopin's Fantasy in F Minor and Schumann's Etudes Symphoniques. The CD also shows his breadth of style and his great classical control, perhaps best displayed in Beethoven's 32 Variations in C Minor.

Since 1987 Sgouros has simply added to his already massive global reputation with performances around the world. In Athens last September he gave his first performance with Russia's Yevgeni Svetlanov and the USSR State Symphony Orchestra as a small contribution to glasnost.

I spoke to him by phone in Athens last week and found him well mannered to a fault. His musical tastes are eclectic: "I do have favorites and I'm playing several on this tour. But I think performing music is like being an actor. In order to do his best work for the public, an actor must try to like whatever part he is playing, so if I am performing a piece, I am determined to like it. So I am very fond of the late romantics, but then I also love playing Mozart, Beethoven, Bach. As for the modern repertoire - it depends what you mean by modern. Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Bartok, yes - but perhaps we can no longer consider them as moderns. I am still coming to terms with the more extreme moderns, but there are some composers, such as Cage, whose works I enjoy performing."

Sgouros also has a "passionate interest" in Verdi and Puccini operas (he also is said to hero worship Maria Callas, one of the few Greeks to have made a similar impression on world music). So I asked him whether the lyrical and dramatic qualities of these works had left any influence on his playing. "It's hard to explain; in a way I think all music is singing. For a pianist technique is important, of course, but it is the singing I want to bring out in the music I play. And now we have these very good recordings of the great vocal operas - Bellini, Verdi, Puccini - it is possible to learn from them." His wide-ranging tastes in music extend to performers as well. "I think you can learn something from all the good pianists, because they all have different personalities, but my favorite would have to be the great older pianists - particularly Horowitz and Richter. And Liszt - I know that sounds strange because obviously it's not possible to have heard him play, but it is possible to be influenced by the impression of his playing you can derive from his music."

And, presumably for mere relaxation, Sgouros studies mathematics at Athens University. "I have to admit that my music tends to cut into my study time." As a final demonstration of his perfect manners, Sgouros declared that he was "very much looking forward to seeing Australia again. The schedule will allow me time for sight-seeing, and since it is summer this time, I'm sure the weather will be much better." Given the very great pleasure he will undoubtedly bring to thousands in Australia, one can only hope he is right.

Dimitris Sgouros CD of live recordings from the Melbourne Concert Hall, 10th and 24th July 1987

 M.E.I. RECORDS / MEI-CD-42427-A

Beethoven 32 Variations in C minor	Recorded by the ABC in the Melbourne Concert Hall 10th and 24th July 1987	Download MP3 (26.8 MB)
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Chopin Fantasy in F minor Op 49	© 1988 Michael Edgley International Limited M.E.I. RECORDS  /  MEI-CD-42427-A	Download MP3 (31.3 MB)
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Liszt Mephisto Waltz No 1	Producer: Lydia Warren Mastering: Yossi Gabbay, Belinda Webster Recording Engineers: Phil Brennan, Gerry McKechnie   Steinway Piano	Download MP3 (26.5 MB)
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Schumann Symphonic Etudes Op 13		Download MP3 (60.8 MB)
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Chopin Nocturne in C minor Op 48 No 1		Download MP3 (14.1 MB)
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Also issued on vinyl LP as MEI-LP-42428 with three substantive works by Chopin, Liszt & Schumann

DIMITRIS SGOUROS: A PIANIST OF PERFECTION

COURIER-MAIL, MON 06 FEB 1989, Page 019

By: BARBARA HEBDEN
 

DIMITRIS Sgouros: Pianist, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, CD (MEI Records)

DIMITRIS Sgouros commands an immaculate technique, but nothing that he does is merely pianistic. This compact disc, recorded by the ABC in the Melbourne Concert Hall in 1987 for MEI (Michael Edgley International), is splendidly recorded. It has excellent annotations by Jonathan Cook and if anything is even better played.

Sgouros, the brilliant young Greek pianist, has pondered the significance of Beethoven's directions and the 32 Variations in C Minor are an example of the finest playing, which touches directly the composer's creative nerve. The Fantasy in F Minor Op. 49 and Nocturne in C Minor Op. 48 No 1 have poetry as well as virtuosity. Sgouros' Chopin interpretation is filled with the most exquisite and exciting effects.

His playing of Schumann's Etudes Symphoniques Op. 13 is extremely searching, as he matches piano techniques to the demands of the several etudes or variations. Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No 1 is a vehicle for the pianist's technical brilliance and yielding romantic warmth.

Sgouros will perform in Brisbane at the Concert Hall, Performing Arts Complex, on February 14 with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Verbitsky, and in a solo recital on February 16.

** Such was the demand for the 1987 Melbourne solo release featured above, that Dimitris Sgouros recorded a second Australian album in 1989 with live performances of Chopin and Liszt culled from his Melbourne Concert Hall and Sydney Opera House recital appearances.  This second album on DINO MUSIC was published on cassette, LP and CD and entitled "Dimitris Sgouros Plays Chopin and Liszt" 

LP edition  /  DIN110

Cassette edition  /  DIN110C

CD edition  /  DIN110D

Some of the performances featured in the 1987 and 1989 albums are now available for free downloading from https://www.sgourosmp3.com

(1987 Sydney Morning Herald)

(1989 Sydney Morning Herald)

(1991 Sydney Morning Herald)

 

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 in B-flat minor Op 23  &  Liszt Transcendental Etude No 10 (encore)   ABC FM radio broadcast

4th February 1989, Sydney Town Hall — Dimitris Sgouros with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (conductor Stuart Challender)

 

 

 

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor Op 18   ABC FM radio broadcast

1st February 1989, Perth Concert Hall — Dimitris Sgouros with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (conductor Vladimir Verbitsky)

 

Schulz-Evler Arabesques on Johann Strauss "By the Beautiful Blue Danube" / "An der schönen blauen Donau" (encore)	20th February 1989, Auckland Town Hall — solo encore by Dimitris Sgouros

 

 Dimitris Sgouros — The Celebrated 1991 Australian Tour 

	18th September - Sydney Opera House - Rachmaninov 3rd Piano Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Vladimir Verbitsky 24th September - Sydney Opera House - solo recital 27th September - Melbourne Concert Hall - solo recital 30th September - Gold Coast Arts Centre - solo recital 3rd October - Melbourne Concert Hall - Grieg Piano Concerto & Beethoven Emperor Concerto with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Vladimir Verbitsky 6th October - Sydney Opera House - solo recital 8th October - Adelaide Town Hall - solo recital 12th October - Perth Concert Hall - solo recital 14th October - Darwin Performing Arts Centre - solo recital

 

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor Op 30   ABC FM radio broadcast

18th September 1991, Sydney Opera House — Dimitris Sgouros with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (conductor Vladimir Verbitsky)