On paper, pianist Ian Pace has all the credentials to be a noteworthy interpreter of the music of John Ogdon. Ogdon (1937-1989) was one of the most brilliant pianists of his generation, celebrated for his dynamic interpretations of the virtuoso traditions of the 19th and 20th centuries. Ogdon worked hard to explore the outer reaches of the piano repertoire, including the fiendishly difficult music of Busoni and Alkan, as well as Kaikhosru Sorabji's superhuman technical challenges.
Like Ogdon, Pace has specialised in contemporary repertoire of mind-bending complexity, giving premieres of music by such composers as Richard Barrett and Brian Ferneyhough. Pace's Wigmore Hall concert presented Ogdon's own music alongside late-romantic works by Liszt, Scriabin and Busoni. It was the kind of monumental programme Ogdon himself used to relish: the first half was 80 minutes long. However, Pace's interpretative limitations made this enthusiastic abundance of music seem more like forceful self-importance.
Ogdon's music is rooted in early 20th-century chromatic harmony. But Pace's gifts are glaringly deficient in this repertoire. His performance of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz number three was devoid of charm or virtuosic sparkle, reducing the piece to an undifferentiated barrage of notes. Pace's detachment also scarred Scriabin's Tenth Sonata. The piece contains some of the most disturbingly impassioned music in the piano repertoire. Yet Pace could only manage a monochrome texture.
In applying the same approach to Ogdon's work, Pace divorced Ogdon's music from its historical and stylistic foundations. The vast Andante of Ogdon's First Sonata was sprawling in Pace's hands, while the wit of Ogdon's Theme and Variations was crude. At least the programme allowed a glimpse of the range of Ogdon's music: from the decorum of a sonata based on Scriabin, to the fireworks of his fantasy on Varlaam's Song from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.
Pace's reputation is founded on his advocacy of this modernist repertoire. Yet after hearing his performances of late-romantic music, I couldn't help thinking how much richer these 20th-century masterpieces are than Pace's performances of them.
