Ian Pace

Lecturer

Centre for Music Studies  

E: Ian.Pace.1@city.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)20 7040 8016

Overview

Ian Pace studied at Chetham's School of Music, The Queen's College, Oxford and the Juilliard School, New York, where he studied with the Hungarian pianist György Sándor. He has pursued a parallel career as both a pianist and musicologist since returning to the UK in 1992, with a particular focus on contemporary music.

He has played in 22 countries, recorded over 20 CDs, and given over 150 world premieres, by composers including Julian Anderson, Richard Barrett, James Clarke, Chaya Czernowin, James Dillon, Pascal Dusapin, Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Finnissy, Christopher Fox, Volker Heyn, Horatiu Radulescu, Frederic Rzewski, Gerhard Stäbler, Howard Skempton and Walter Zimmermann. He has also played with major orchestras including the Orchestre de Paris under Christoph Eschenbach, the SWR-Orchestra Stuttgart under Rupert Huber, and the Dortmund Philharmonic under Bernhard Kontarsky, and given many workshops and masterclasses, including as a teacher at the festivals in Acanthes, Metz, and Impuls, Graz.

Ian taught first at the London College of Music and Media from 1998 to 2001, where he was co-director of a department for contemporary piano, then as an AHRC Research Fellow at the University of Southampton from 2003 to 2006 (where he wrote a monograph on Michael Finnissy's The History of Photography in Sound). He was Lecturer in Contemporary Musicologies at Dartington College of Arts (now University College Falmouth) from 2007 to 2010, before taking up the position of Lecturer and DMA Programme Director at City University London. Since 2011 he has been Head of Performance at City.

His undergraduate teaching has encompassed 20th century musical history and performance, issues of music and society (in particular the work of Theodor Adorno and also the New Musicology), aesthetics of modernism and postmodernism, historical performance practice, instrument history, site-specific music, as well as supervising many dissertations at undergraduate and postgraduate level on various areas of classical and popular music.

He co-authored and co-edited the volume Uncommon Ground: The Music of Michael Finnissy (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998) and has published widely in The Musical Times, Tempo, Contemporary Music Review, International Piano, Open Space Magazine, Liszt Society Journal, Classical Music, Musiktexte and Musik und Aesthetik, as well as authoring many programme and CD liner notes.

Recent publications have included chapters on 'Verbal Discourse as Aesthetic Arbitrator' in Björn Heile (ed), The Modernist Legacy (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), 'Notation, Time and the Performer's Relationship to the Score in Contemporary Music', in Darla Crispin (ed), Unfolding Time: Studies in Temporality in Twentieth-Century Music, edited Darla Crispin (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2009), and 'Coldness and Cruelty as Performance in Deleuze's Proust', in Mary Bryden and Margaret Topping (Eds), Beckett's Proust/Deleuze's Proust (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

He has given many guest lectures and conference papers. His book Brahms Performance Practice: Documentary, Analytic and Interpretive Approaches was published by Ashgate in 2010, and his chapter on 19th century instrumental performance will appear in Colin Lawson and Robin Stowell (Eds), The Cambridge History of Musical Performance. Since 2006, he has been engaged on a large scale research project concerning the development of the musical avant-garde and its institutions in West Germany between 1945 and 1963.

Research interests

19th Century performance history and practice; romantic aesthetics; Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms; history of the piano and pianists; history of violin style; the 19th-century orchestra; Russian music and performance; aesthetics of modernism and postmodernism; Second Viennese School; Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Bartók; music in the Third Reich; the post-1945 avant-garde; music, culture, and society in West Germany; music in the Cold War; contemporary music in Britain; institutions and festivals of new music (including Darmstadt, Donaueschingen, Musica Viva, etc.); music of Stockhausen, Xenakis, Nono, Cage, Schnebel, Kagel, Ligeti, Lachenmann, Radulescu, Ferneyhough, Finnissy and others; early electronic music; music-theatre; contemporary performance techniques and issues; issues of notation; historiography; music and identity; the role of verbal discourse around music; Theodor Adorno; Pierre Bourdieu.

Research activities and publications

Books and book chapters

Uncommon Ground: the music of Michael Finnissy. Includes long interview with Finnissy and chapters on the piano music and theatrical works by Ian Pace, who also compiled the index. Edited by Henrietta Brougham,Christopher Fox and Ian Pace, published by Ashgate Publishing, 1998

'Notation, Time and the Performer's Relationship to the Score in Contemporary Music. In Collected Writings of the Orpheus Institute: Unfolding Time: Studies in Temporality in Twentieth-Century Music, edited Darla Crispin (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2009), pp. 151-192.

'Verbal Discourse as Aesthetic Arbitrator'. In The Modernist Legacy, edited Björn Heile (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), pp. 81-100.

'Coldness and Cruelty in Deleuze's Proust'. In Beckett's Proust/Deleuze's Proust, edited Mary Bryden and Margaret Topping (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)

'Performance as Analysis, Analysis as Performance'. To be published in Collected Writings of the Orpheus Institute. Volume title to be confirmed, edited Alessandro Cervino (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2009).

Brahms Performance Practice: Documentary, Analytic and Interpretative Approaches. Monograph on performance practice in the music of Brahms.
To be published by Ashgate in 2010-11.

Music and Critical Theory. Co-edited with Marcel Swiboda. To write chapter on Adorno. For likely publication by Routledge 2010-11 (proposal currently under consideration).

Context, Sources and Interpretation in Michael Finnissy's The History of Photography in Sound. Large-scale monograph on Finnissy work, involving sketch study, analysis, wide engagement of the relationship of the work to its sources and other influences and associated areas (film, photography, philosophy, modernist aesthetics, issues of Marxist, post-colonial and gay musicology, etc.). Completed 2006. Currently being edited for publication.

The Cambridge History of Musical Performance, edited Colin Lawson and Robin Stowell. Chapter on Nineteenth Century Instrumental Music, for publication by Cambridge University Press, 2010-2011.

Instrumental Performance from the Congress of Vienna to the Berlin Philharmonic. Book on nineteenth-century performers and performance practice in the context of the historical events of its time. Completed August 2009. Currently being considered for publication

Identity Politics and the Aesthetics of the Free Market: McClary, Brett, Taruskin and musicological neo-conservatism. Leftist critique of three prominent figures of the 'New Musicology'. To be completed 2010-2011.

Articles

Reviews: Adorno - Towards a Theory of Musical Reproduction; Letters to his Parents; Philosophy of New Music. In TEMPO, issue 242 (October 2007).

Conventions, Genres, Practices in the Performance of Liszt's Piano Music
Liszt Society Journal, Volume 31 (2006), pp. 70-103.

Performing Liszt in the Style Hongroise. Liszt Society Journal, Volume 32 (2007).

"The Best Form of Government…": Cage's Laissez-Faire Anarchism and Capitalism, The Open Space Magazine, issue 8/9 (Fall 2006/Spring 2007), pp. 91-115.

Gordon Downie and Ian Pace: A Dialogue, The Open Space Magazine, issue 8/9 (Fall 2006/Spring 2007), pp. 181-208.

Lachenmann's Serynade - Issues for Performer and Listener, Discussion of performance and aesthetic issues. In 'Helmut Lachenmann - Music with Matches', Contemporary  Music Review Volume 24 Part 1, 2005.

Interview for Composition Today

György Sándor: From East to West, Interview/article on pianist György Sándor. In International Piano, January/February 2003.

'Christopher Fox', Entry for New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, published 2001. The Harpsichord Works of Iannis Xenakis

Analysis of Xenakis's five works featuring harpsichord.
In 'The Contemporary Harpsichord: new perspectives', Contemporary Music Review Volume 20 Part 1 (2001), ed. Jane Chapman

Ian Pace interviewed by Marc Bridle for Music on the Web. Wide ranging interview on music, performance, aesthetics, politics

Dusapin-Material. Article on Dusapin, published in French in programme booklet for MusICA, Strasbourg, 2000.

UK Gold? Guest editorial, critical article on British composition and performance published in The Musical Times No. 1869 (Winter 1999).

Modulor von Ian Willcock. Published in German in Musik & Aesthetic, Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart, ed. Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, April 1999. English version published on the NEW MUSIC site.

Northern Light. Extensive article on the music of Christopher Fox
published in The Musical Times No. 1863 (Summer 1998).

Ferneyhough. Extended article on writings and recent CDs, and general reflections, published in TEMPO 203 (January 1998).

Positive or negative. Comprehensive survey of the music of Helmut Lachenmann, published in two parts in The Musical Times Nos. 1859 (January 1998), 1860 (February 1998).

Never to be Naught. On the music of Pascal Dusapin, published in The Musical Times No. 1857 (November 1997).

Archetypal Experiments. On the music of Howard Skempton, published in The Musical Times No. 1856 (October 1997). Also re-printed in World New Music Magazine, No. 8 (April 1988), and in German in Musiktexte 75 (August 1998).

Kagel: Music of the Absurd? Critical article looking at recent music of Kagel, published in TEMPO 200 (April 1997).

Recent Sciarrino premieres. Extended discussion of Vanitas, Lohengrin and aesthetics of Sciarrino's work, published in TEMPO 200 (April 1997).

Die Soldaten. Review of London premiere of B.A. Zimmermann's opera, published in TEMPO 200 (April 1997).

Contemporary British Music. Major article on history of post-war British music, published as 'Zeitgenossische Britische Musik' in volume to accompany 'Kunstraum' festival - concerts in Agathenburg and Cadenberge.

Christopher Fox: A Profile. Promotional article for The Fox Edition

The Panorama of Michael Finnissy. Major survey of Finnissy's work, published in two parts: (I) in TEMPO 196 (April 1996), (II) in TEMPO 201 (July 1997).

The Repertoire Guide: Richard Barrett, published in Classical Music No. 570 (7th December 1996).
 
Estrada and Nunes. Extended CD review, published in TEMPO 198 (October 1996)

Michael Finnissy's Red Earth. Programme essay for NMC disc D040S.

Michael Finnissy's Mars + Venus, WAM, Enek. Traum des Sangers. Programme essay for NMC disc D043.

Finnissy and Transcription/Finnissy's Gershwin Arrangements/Performance Note. Programme essays for Metier disc MSV CD92030.

Christopher Fox, piano music. Programme essay for Metier disc MSV CD92022.

Secret Theatres. Review of South Bank Birtwistle Retrospective, published in TEMPO 197 (July 1996)

Recent Lachenmann discs. Extended discussion of Lachenmann's works, published in TEMPO 197 (July 1996).

Michael Finnissy: An Introduction. Promotional article for United Music Publishers.

Programme notes

Many programme notes as well as essays mentioned above, on works by composers including Barlow, Barraque, Barry, Beethoven, Berio, Bussotti, Cage, Cardew, Debussy, Dillon, Donatoni, Feldman, Ferneyhough, Finnissy, Fox, Globokar, Hespos, Heyn, Holliger, Huber, Hubler, Janacek, Kagel, Lachenmann, Liszt, Messiaen, Newman, Ravel, Saariaho, Satie, Scelsi, Schnebel, Schubert, Schumann, Sciarrino, Skempton, Stalling, Stockhausen, Stravinsky, Wolff, Xenakis, Zappa, B.A. Zimmermann, Walter Zimmermann

Recordings

Pierre Boulez - Structures Books 1 and 2; John Cage - Music for Piano. With pianist Pi-hsien Chen. HAR ART/WDR co-production, for release 2008.

Brian Ferneyhough - Complete Piano Works. Metier/Divine Art, 2009.

Michael Finnissy - The History of Photography in Sound. Metier/Divine Art 2010-2011 (5-6 CDs).

Mauricio Kagel - Complete Piano Works. Label tbc (recorded 2000).

Horatiu Radulescu, Piano Sonata No. 6 (live recording of world premiere). Klara (2008)

Brian Ferneyhough - Opus Contra Naturam, live recording of world premiere. Klara (2006).

Hilda Paredes - COTiDALES, with the Arditti Quartet. Mode 149 (2005).

Pascal Dusapin - À Quia; Études pour Piano, with Orchestre de Paris, dir. Christoph Eschenbach. Naïve MO 782164 (2 CDs + DVD) (2004).

Stefano Scodanibbio - Only Connect. Stradivarius 6738662 (2004).

Walter Zimmermann - Beginner's Mind: Piano Works 1975-1998. Metier MSV CD92057 (2 CDs) (2003).

Peter Maxwell Davies - Five Pieces for Piano Op. 2; Hymnos; Clarinet Sonata, with clarinettist Guy Cowley. Metier MSV 92055 (2003).

Bernd Alois Zimmermann - Capriccio; Intercommunicazione; Présence, solo and with violinist Peter Sheppard-Skaevered and cellist Friedrich Gauwerky. Albedo ALBCD 022 (2003).

Michael Finnissy - Lost Lands; Keroilyu, with ensemble Topologies. Metier MSV 92050 (2003).

Alwynne Pritchard - Invisible Cities; Spring; Der Zwerg; Barbara Allen, solo and with ensemble Topologies. Metier MSV 92040 (2002).

Richard Emsley - Flow Forms; finnissys fifty; For Piano 2, 3, 4; Helter-Skelter; "..from swerve of shore to bend of bay…"; The Juniper Tree, solo and with ensemble Topologies, Metier MSV 92044 (2002).

Michael Finnissy - Verdi Transcriptions; To and Fro; Snowdrift; Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 6. Metier MSV 97027 (2 CDs) (2002).

Tracts: music of Ferneyhough, Erber, Fox, Dench, Barrett. NMC D066 (2001).

Christopher Fox - You, Us, Me: Piano and Vocal Works. MSV 92031 (2000)

Michael Finnissy - Gershwin Arrangements; More Gershwin. MSV 92030 (2000)

Christopher Fox - More Light: Piano Music. MSV 92022 (1998).