I don't believe a "best ever" or "worst ever" pianist exists, as art is so subjective.
The fact that Sgouros continues to perform at major festivals and with high level orchestras (e.g. Beijing Symphony, BBC Symphony) shows that he never withdrew from the concert circuit, as happened to many prodigies citing "burn out". It is true that his concerts are no longer accompanied by the hoopla and publicity of his prodigy salad days, but this is to be expected, and doesn't make him any less of an artist.
I personally heard Sgouros play a Rachmaninov Concerto in Luzern back in the 1980s and it has stayed in my mind as a memorable experience.
Fast-forward to 2011 and Sgouros gave the opening recital of the Newport Festival in Rhode Island, on July 8th. I caught a part of this concert via the live Yamaha webcast!
(Their streaming of Newport is now over, currently they are broadcasting some IKIF masterclasses... David Dubal is coming up in a few hours)
At Newport, Sgouros programmed Beethoven, Chopin in the first half, and Liszt in the second. And it was captivating. He is playing as well as ever - if anything he is even more mature than what I remember in the mid-1980s. He has kept intact a wondrous dexterity, harnessed to a fine artistic sensibility and musical intelligence. Moreover his art is frequently a subtle one - witness his stirring performance of Chopin Ballade #4 given at Newport.
A review of the 2011 Newport concert has already been published -
https://www.sgourosmp3.com/sgouros_newport_review_2011.htmlVery positive. He apparently also performed Prokofiev's 3rd Concerto with great success in the Ukraine over the past year, the critics remarking on his strong "rhythmic drive". Similarly glowing notices for his Beethoven Third Concerto and the BBC Symphony under Belohlavek in 2009.
Of course, there are critics and there are critics.... but one can make up one's own mind on these matters and there are plenty of examples of his playing to be found on the internet.
And this leads to the subject of youtube.... I tend to approach youtube clips with some wariness, since I feel they often only "approximate" the sound of an artist in real-life, especially those filmed in the pre-digital age and passed down as 2nd and 3rd generation VHS copies!
This is especially true of Sgouros, whose playing is characterized by lots of fine gradations, as opposed to the sharp, jarring contrasts you get with some others.
Pianists with a highly percussive touch tend to come over better on poor quality youtube clips, since they make obvious contrasts that you can't really miss.
But Sgouros doesn't go for the "obvious" strident effects nor the sudden dynamic swings, and to fully appreciate his playing one ideally needs a good quality recording that mirrors the delicate nuances and modulations of touch.... (Yulianna Avdeeva is another pianist in this category... many people said she didn't deserve to win Chopin Competition... and their judgment was based solely on internet streaming! I heard most of the webcasts and they don't do justice to her style of playing at all. The jury who heard her in person - the likes of Argerich, Ts'ong etc. - were duly impressed)
Going back to Sgouros. There is a very fine recital film from Munich's Philharmonie that is available in high quality from the classicaltv site. I also downloaded his Chopin Ballade 1 from sgourosmp3.com (in 320kbps mp3) and that interpretation is simply awe-inspiring, and fortunately in very good sound as well. Here is the link to that one -
https://www.sgourosmp3.com/chopinballade1.phpMaybe worthwhile to audition this, without any pre-conception of the "prodigy" or "ex-prodigy" ! This is playing at a very high level, regardless of age or whatever...
Anna
Topic: Is Dmitri Sgouros the worst pianist ever?