Dimitris Sgouros is one of the real great artists. I remember one concert of him... after his playing on couldn´t stop the applaus. His passion and fire, but also the technical discipline... creates something so special, unique... It´s called Genious.
As great as Sultanov was, this pianist drove this work with speed and clarity both. A powerhouse of a performance here. Brilliant technic driven by youthful risk taking. And he made it work! Where is he now?
I don't like his version as much as others I've heard...seems a bit too rushed...like at 7:20-7:32...It needs to be more passionate...more oozing with emotion.
Nevertheless, the mere fact that he's playing this at only 14 is just amazing.
Dmitri is a stunning talent, especially in the romantic show pieces, not the best in sensitive musical flows, he more than compensates with honest energetic competent playing. Great to listen and watch Sgouros play.
Sometimes one has to remind ones self that this pianist recorded all of the Hungarian rhapsodies before the age of sixteen,(beautifully), Liszt is his specialty.
I think there is no exact specialty in Liszt. If you take a look at youtube's "Nigel Kennedy on Dimitris Sgouros" video, there is a 3d Beethoven Concerto with Sgouros being a kid. I think it is nice.
He didn't make any recording recently and little is known of him at the concert platform.Maybe he is teaching another 14 year old performing this work !
He performed Rach 3 at the age of 12 in public.His playing was really mature for his age and if not IMPOSSIBLE for someone at age twelve.Just to get all the notes right was difficult enough.Technically speaking the Mephisto Waltz is just a little less difficult than Rach 3 and he plays it very brilliantly.
Be sure to check out Sgouros' Mephisto Waltz No 1 on soundclick(dot)com - this was recorded in 1987 (a few years after this video), in VASTLY SUPERIOR sound quality, in the Melbourne Concert Hall... his interpretation had matured too...
for the last 100 years since Franz Liszt.Franz Liszt composed his first set of super high technical proficiency etudes at age 14 and no one except him can play them at that time. Not even Felix Mendelssohn.
Where's the end? Dmitri steps up in the fifth minute. He goes on comparably to Alfred Brendel, sometimes more fierce, sometimes as thoughtful. Too bad it's missing the very end.
WTF? people say that Anal Cunt, Grind core, metal, punk and stuff like that is noise? And this is not? Keep banging those keys, at random, making noise so that the upperclass highcultural moralists can feel important because they listen to "culture". Yay! Go team! shit music.
Obviously you have no idea of classical music. Liszt did not intend this piece to be serious. This is more of a ingenious pianistic joke. He had a wonderful sense of life, and this piece illustrates it perfectly. Something for his famous piano evenings!
Yes, I think mephisto waltz is "great" pianomusic if it is played "correct", I mean, it is no piece where you must show of with technique and that's the problem with most of the pianists... this piece is programmatoric music...
I cannot disagree that many of the people who claim to love classical music have not a leg on which to stand if they call it "High culture". Can you honestly say that to play something like this takes no talent nor dexterity? Also, keep in mind, this is a poor recording; he plays this very well, the camera does not suffice to say the least. I also have to say that metal is awesome. Did you know that metal (good metal) is actually classically influenced. Do you listen to Nightwish?
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
You are talking about good metal in the same setting? that's just plain wrong. Dimmu Borgir is much better and have clearer references to classical music. I said nothing about his dexterity, probably nothing wrong with this Dimitris character, but the music he plays is utter shit. That is my oppinion.
Have you ever considered that a 14 year old boy performing this piece isn't perhaps capable of truly demonstrating the wonders of it? Liszt's music is often badly played and perhaps you should listen to more of his music and try to understand his purpose in writing such pieces before you make a comment like that.
By the way, most people that listen to classical music are your average, middle-class citizens finding meaning in music and escaping the crap that people are dishing out these days.
I was touched by the tenderness and deep understanding of the beautiful "recitative" with all the lovely trills just before the end. This was superior playing of a very high order.
His performance would benefit from being taken down a notch or two in tempo. The temptation to rush in the "exciting" parts may b irresistible, but it's also amateurish, even though great players sometimes do it too.
I really can't believe you guys are comparing a performance of a 14 year old to some obviously more matured performances of world-renowned masters of the piano. Just take it as it is and it's all good. If it doesn't please you just go watch something else cause nothing you criticize on will be changed on this video :P
The best Mephisto is with NICOLAS EKONOMOU.The performance of Nicolas was great.Martha Argerich loves his performance too.He was such a great pianist!
Yes! I remember I had his recording of it on my computer a while back (along with Schumann Papillon and some other things I can't remember). It was a great performance. Maybe my favorite. I need to find it again!
true, there is poor interpretation but people seem to get so carried away and take his technique for granted that they criticise so harshly any shortcomings, most of which are born out of jealousy. How well was your interpretation of "fur eilse" at 14 ahahahah.
Well, obviously Marcelmombeek, dmburke and fortissimo have more passion for flaming than listening. This guy at the age of 14 played better than any of you would do, still is not an excuse to say he lacked of interpretation but... this guy matured pretty well and is well known as pianist for his skill so flaming here in a video he did when he was 14 is so childish. I won't continue flaming because the post ain't supposed to be about other comments but on the video.
This interpretation of the Mephisto Waltz too rapid, he does not understand where to place the "Rubato's" and it is too flamboyant and lacks emotion. Please listen to W. Horowitz, Van Clyb competition, Alexis Sultanov.
Good technique, no interpretation... Listen to Bolet's elegant and brilliant version or to Horowitz' demoniac one. Sgouros, sadly, looked very promissing, but never matured. We are still waiting!
this SUCKS!!! not interpretation wutsoever!!! no real emotion, yah so his hair shakes around, i see emotion. NO ANYTHING, the metrenome is still on is his head!!!
i simply cant get over the fact that hes only 14.....
fledgehog 8 months ago
14 years old. And he plays like that....awesome!
ebavfencer 9 months ago
CUT!!
twooffour 11 months ago
Dimitris Sgouros is one of the real great artists. I remember one concert of him... after his playing on couldn´t stop the applaus. His passion and fire, but also the technical discipline... creates something so special, unique... It´s called Genious.
MmeFigaro 1 year ago
I played it years ago(25) and it took me a year and a half to master it. Very difficult peice. Great performance!
robbwillva 1 year ago
ahhh. soo good. at he was a year younger than me when he played it. :(
im playing the duet version and i the recital is in 2 days and i cant even play it yet T_T
Hell0kittyangel1 2 years ago
As great as Sultanov was, this pianist drove this work with speed and clarity both. A powerhouse of a performance here. Brilliant technic driven by youthful risk taking. And he made it work! Where is he now?
Rnfile 2 years ago
he lives in Greece I think,
he makes concerts all over..
koumisp 2 years ago
And he is 14. Stunning
konzolmester 2 years ago
I don't like his version as much as others I've heard...seems a bit too rushed...like at 7:20-7:32...It needs to be more passionate...more oozing with emotion.
Nevertheless, the mere fact that he's playing this at only 14 is just amazing.
Kalen1457 2 years ago 2
passionate? You mean you want it to be sentimentalized.
This dramatic outtake in that specific area is very fitting from 7:00 onward.
Artur Runbinstein would be a perfect picture to hold to your ideal performance ;P
ChrisWatch 2 years ago
A good pianist leaves blood on the keyboard when he is finished playing.
jaimesolara 2 years ago 10
He is Greek. :-)
krazykeys88 2 years ago 3
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must be autistic
ElPopularVale 2 years ago
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2 am in the wiener philharmoniker hall, he didn't play to badly for that hour, and i heard he learned this piece in 10-20 minutes.
whenultra 3 years ago
In this age of 14 Sgouros is much much better than other young newcomer pianists and old pianists of today.
enzogrella 3 years ago 2
Sgouros in this age was one of the best pianists in the world.
enzogrella 3 years ago 6
lol
PaulPanzer1000 3 years ago
Dmitri is a stunning talent, especially in the romantic show pieces, not the best in sensitive musical flows, he more than compensates with honest energetic competent playing. Great to listen and watch Sgouros play.
whenultra 3 years ago
was this guy really 14?
StrmUndDrng 3 years ago
15 actually
Musicman180 3 years ago
Jorge Bolet is a joke. Bravo Dimitri!!! If you want to hear a historical recording hear Sofronitsky but not Bolet!!!!!!!!!
Cavaradossi1981 3 years ago
Liszt would be proud of this guy!!!
He's playing with such a great accuracy!!!!
Well done Dimitri!Hope to see you live someday in Greece!!!!
B337h0v3n 3 years ago
21/11/2008 tchaikovsky concert fantasy (Athens Megaron Concert Hall).
2009, Beethoven piano concerto 3 with the BBC orchestra (the same)
Pigaine file mou
apo2520 3 years ago 2
se euxaristo para polu....
mipos ksereis kai gia antistoixa concerts sto londino...se euxaristo ek ton proteron!
B337h0v3n 3 years ago
mono autes ksero oti einai prosexos.. an vreis to site tou (nomizo sgouros-pianist. co m) exei programma kai ananeonetai
apo2520 3 years ago
listen to George Bolet's recording of this.
laqin007 3 years ago
one of the best interpretation I have ever listened! Strepitous
funicula83 3 years ago 4
I haven't heard such a fine interpretation of this piece since the recorded version by Philippe Entremont in the 1960s.
horatiodreamt 3 years ago
Sometimes one has to remind ones self that this pianist recorded all of the Hungarian rhapsodies before the age of sixteen,(beautifully), Liszt is his specialty.
galaxyrainguy 3 years ago
I think there is no exact specialty in Liszt. If you take a look at youtube's "Nigel Kennedy on Dimitris Sgouros" video, there is a 3d Beethoven Concerto with Sgouros being a kid. I think it is nice.
ianislios 3 years ago
loving the extreeme tempo!
callanmchugh 3 years ago
crazy
volodya2 3 years ago
wow. how did he get to bend the strings so much right at the beginning?
iamthebirdman888 3 years ago 4
Yes, it was a nice start, too...and the rest: Bravo!
DerekLL2 3 years ago
egyszerüen a legjobb
quackerr 3 years ago
he looks lyk the guy with the chainsaw in texas chainsaw massacre lol
KearneyPiano 3 years ago
This is wonderful! But I didn't know that they were still doing black & white film in 1984.
trschaefer 3 years ago
Yeah... it's weird
Musicman180 3 years ago
it sounds like he doesn't like the peace :D
but anyway, good performance
CPBach 3 years ago
Sgouros is the realest pianist I've heard. He never sounds artificial, you can tell that someone is actually playing.
OorvakanSar 4 years ago 2
as opposed to other pianists who dont "actually" play?
guitarike 4 years ago
Excellent!!!!!! I love it.
alexongcs 4 years ago
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That piano sounds like shit, the video quality is shit too.
5stringofFernandoSor 4 years ago
Oh, please
Sviolinist 4 years ago
IMPRESIONANTE...
ARTEPARALAPAZ 4 years ago
He didn't make any recording recently and little is known of him at the concert platform.Maybe he is teaching another 14 year old performing this work !
canman5060 4 years ago
He has made some recordings recently. Brahms's two concertos for example (Capricio). He took good coments from the Classik CD magazin, then.
ianislios 3 years ago
Actually Dimitri first attempt at the mephisto waltz at age ten !
canman5060 4 years ago
He performed Rach 3 at the age of 12 in public.His playing was really mature for his age and if not IMPOSSIBLE for someone at age twelve.Just to get all the notes right was difficult enough.Technically speaking the Mephisto Waltz is just a little less difficult than Rach 3 and he plays it very brilliantly.
canman5060 4 years ago
I cannot believe his talent. Amazing!!!!
pianochick1 4 years ago
How does he make the notes bend in the first few seconds? That's crazy...I wish I could learn to play like that.
live4divn 4 years ago
xD I hope you're joking.
Video distortion.
Haeronthegreat 4 years ago
I am.
:P
Learn to play this piece, it's a lot of fun, and not as hard as it sounds.
live4divn 4 years ago
Talent like that isn't learned- you're born with it. Teaching can only hone innate skills.
5stringofFernandoSor 4 years ago
Great Performance. My favourite is still Julius Katchen.I missed him so dearly. My childhood piano teacher and Great Friend.
canman5060 4 years ago
Be sure to check out Sgouros' Mephisto Waltz No 1 on soundclick(dot)com - this was recorded in 1987 (a few years after this video), in VASTLY SUPERIOR sound quality, in the Melbourne Concert Hall... his interpretation had matured too...
cherkassky 4 years ago
14 years od: oh my God
perhaps the greatest talent of the last 30 years
orpheus63 4 years ago
30 years only 100 maybe or more
panagogt 4 years ago
for the last 100 years since Franz Liszt.Franz Liszt composed his first set of super high technical proficiency etudes at age 14 and no one except him can play them at that time. Not even Felix Mendelssohn.
canman5060 4 years ago
There I agree with you!
vezzmon 4 years ago
Where's the end? Dmitri steps up in the fifth minute. He goes on comparably to Alfred Brendel, sometimes more fierce, sometimes as thoughtful. Too bad it's missing the very end.
OldestKnown 4 years ago
WTF? people say that Anal Cunt, Grind core, metal, punk and stuff like that is noise? And this is not? Keep banging those keys, at random, making noise so that the upperclass highcultural moralists can feel important because they listen to "culture". Yay! Go team! shit music.
Delmuth 4 years ago
what the hell is that supposed to mean anyway, take some english classes
malak789 4 years ago
Obviously you have no idea of classical music. Liszt did not intend this piece to be serious. This is more of a ingenious pianistic joke. He had a wonderful sense of life, and this piece illustrates it perfectly. Something for his famous piano evenings!
vezzmon 4 years ago
I think you are a human joke... something for al pleasant evening with friends...
marcelmombeek 4 years ago
Sorry marcel, that commentary was supposed for Delmuth. But what is this? Do you really claim that this is grand music?!
vezzmon 4 years ago
hi vezzmon, ok, sorry for my reply.
Yes, I think mephisto waltz is "great" pianomusic if it is played "correct", I mean, it is no piece where you must show of with technique and that's the problem with most of the pianists... this piece is programmatoric music...
marcelmombeekeigen 4 years ago
marcelmombeek, Very funny! I guess vezzmon knew Liszt personally.
LVB1770 4 years ago
I cannot disagree that many of the people who claim to love classical music have not a leg on which to stand if they call it "High culture". Can you honestly say that to play something like this takes no talent nor dexterity? Also, keep in mind, this is a poor recording; he plays this very well, the camera does not suffice to say the least. I also have to say that metal is awesome. Did you know that metal (good metal) is actually classically influenced. Do you listen to Nightwish?
itsfrebo 4 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
You are talking about good metal in the same setting? that's just plain wrong. Dimmu Borgir is much better and have clearer references to classical music. I said nothing about his dexterity, probably nothing wrong with this Dimitris character, but the music he plays is utter shit. That is my oppinion.
Delmuth 4 years ago
Good metal and Nightwish in the same setting*
Delmuth 4 years ago
Have you ever considered that a 14 year old boy performing this piece isn't perhaps capable of truly demonstrating the wonders of it? Liszt's music is often badly played and perhaps you should listen to more of his music and try to understand his purpose in writing such pieces before you make a comment like that.
By the way, most people that listen to classical music are your average, middle-class citizens finding meaning in music and escaping the crap that people are dishing out these days.
paolohudson 4 years ago
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I play this piece when I was 11 !
canman5060 4 years ago
(I play when I twooooo)
-What now Ching Ping?
uhrkraft 4 years ago
I was touched by the tenderness and deep understanding of the beautiful "recitative" with all the lovely trills just before the end. This was superior playing of a very high order.
His performance would benefit from being taken down a notch or two in tempo. The temptation to rush in the "exciting" parts may b irresistible, but it's also amateurish, even though great players sometimes do it too.
Very promising young man.
Miecyslaw 4 years ago
I really can't believe you guys are comparing a performance of a 14 year old to some obviously more matured performances of world-renowned masters of the piano. Just take it as it is and it's all good. If it doesn't please you just go watch something else cause nothing you criticize on will be changed on this video :P
ugnex3 4 years ago
nice, but in my opinion it's played to hectic.
Anyway,good work
CPBach 4 years ago
tac a tac a tac a tac a tac a tac a tac a tac a tac a
This is not a performance, this is typewriting on the piano. The best Liszt comes from the maestro Claudio Arrau.
dacc1974 4 years ago
The best Mephisto is with NICOLAS EKONOMOU.The performance of Nicolas was great.Martha Argerich loves his performance too.He was such a great pianist!
go9zu 4 years ago
Yes! I remember I had his recording of it on my computer a while back (along with Schumann Papillon and some other things I can't remember). It was a great performance. Maybe my favorite. I need to find it again!
PianoManSteve 4 years ago
Oh yeah. I also had his Liszt Sonata. Which I also loved.
PianoManSteve 4 years ago
who cares how old he is
barelyapianist 4 years ago
true, there is poor interpretation but people seem to get so carried away and take his technique for granted that they criticise so harshly any shortcomings, most of which are born out of jealousy. How well was your interpretation of "fur eilse" at 14 ahahahah.
aidengrandfield 4 years ago
In my opinion Sgouros in this record wasn,n 14.
MatteoTessarolo 5 years ago
He was born in 1970. Do the math.
unclrick2003 4 years ago
Well, obviously Marcelmombeek, dmburke and fortissimo have more passion for flaming than listening. This guy at the age of 14 played better than any of you would do, still is not an excuse to say he lacked of interpretation but... this guy matured pretty well and is well known as pianist for his skill so flaming here in a video he did when he was 14 is so childish. I won't continue flaming because the post ain't supposed to be about other comments but on the video.
Olidamara 5 years ago
This interpretation of the Mephisto Waltz too rapid, he does not understand where to place the "Rubato's" and it is too flamboyant and lacks emotion. Please listen to W. Horowitz, Van Clyb competition, Alexis Sultanov.
No comparaison.
David M Burke
dmburke007 5 years ago
so many stupid comments here.
i got this on a record (same tempo, no wrong notes) and he is realy one of the best performers of this piece.
jaapaap5 5 years ago
not a single note of music or passion
marcelmombeek 5 years ago
When are you going to post your passionate rendition of this piece so that we might all be inspired by real greatness?
unclrick2003 4 years ago
I can not play better, but also not worser...
marcelmombeekeigen 4 years ago
Good technique, no interpretation... Listen to Bolet's elegant and brilliant version or to Horowitz' demoniac one. Sgouros, sadly, looked very promissing, but never matured. We are still waiting!
voolare 5 years ago
this SUCKS!!! not interpretation wutsoever!!! no real emotion, yah so his hair shakes around, i see emotion. NO ANYTHING, the metrenome is still on is his head!!!
fortissimo25 5 years ago
Good sound and touch (not original, though!) of-course he needs to mature. Passionate but winy..
Does anyone have this with Rubinstein or Horowitz???
michaelfraydon 5 years ago
yea, amazing ability. annoying me, by rushing everything. take a rest every once in while, dude. you know, the squiggly ones
thorne1337 5 years ago
'Tis da genius... not what DaComme says it is... :P
dnephi 5 years ago
WOW!-AT 14!
stomachpunch 5 years ago
he'a a genius!
mariamarla 5 years ago
Where's the ending.......
med80199piano 5 years ago