I am pleased to announce that Ian Pace will be performing my Progress always comes late  (2017) for solo piano. This piece was composed as a birthday present for Ian Pace on his fiftieth birthday. More information about this can be found here and here.

This particular upcoming concert will feature works by Charles Ives, Walter Zimmermann, Marc Yeats, Lauren Redhead, Eleri Angharad Pound, Alistair Zaldua, and Michael Finnissy. More information about the concert and how to book can be found here.

The following is some information about the concert which can also be found on the University of Huddersfield’s website.

Internationally renowned pianist, musicologist and champion of avant-garde music Ian Pace presents an uncompromising recital, featuring a range of diverse new short works written in tribute for his 50th birthday, book-ended with two essays in extreme pianistic virtuosity from either end of the twentieth century – ‘Hawthorne’ from Charles Ives’ Concord sonata, and Michael Finnissy’s transcendental Piano Concerto No. 4.

• Charles Ives, ‘Hawthorne’ from Piano Sonata No. 2 “Concord, Mass., 1840-1860” (1916-19, rev. 1920s-40s) (10’)

• Walter Zimmermann, Stars for Ian (2017) (2’)

• Marc Yeats, exordium (2017) (3’)

• Lauren Redhead, nothing really changes (2017) (4’)

• Eleri Angharad Pound, pbh (2017-18) (2’)

• Alannah-Marie Halay, Progress always comes late (2017) (3’)

• Alistair Zaldua, Sylph Figures for Ian Pace (2017) (4’)

• Michael Finnissy, Piano Concerto No. 4 (1978, rev. 1996) (17’)

Below is a programme note about my piece:

Progress always comes late (2017) is a moment of nervous energy. There should be moments of calm and moments of frenzy juxtaposed in a schizophrenic manner, portraying an overall sensation of stopping and starting. This is a passionate piece and the performer must immerse themselves in every fragment equally, letting their mood and ‘spur-of-the-moment’ decisions dictate the order of fragments performed. The title (‘Progress always comes late’) is a quote from the 1988 film Cinema Paradiso, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore (the original Italian is something like ‘il progressi sempre tardi arriva’). This piece is a collection of fragments that can be performed in any order. The performer does not need to perform every single fragment on the page, although they are encouraged to. Individual fragments (or series of fragments) can be repeated if the performer wishes. Fragments do not need to be performed in their entirety if the moment calls for a fragment to be interrupted by another one. The duration of the piece and overall structure of the fragments is up to the performer (however, this can be devised by the composer should the performer prefer this).