Pete Cooper and Richard Bolton
Turning Point
Fiddle and Cello duets
(Big Chain BC101)
1. CHIP Chip and Rant/ Northern Frisk/ Charlesworth Hp.
2. LORNA
3. MOLLY Chicken and Dumplings/ Handsome Molly
4. MELTING
5. BUZZ Flaxley Green/ Robinson's/ Catching The Buzz
6. PEACE A Time for Peace
7. HACKNEY Devil at the Bar /Bonnie H./ Farewell to Chernobyl
8. THIRTEEN Pelistersko Oro
9. HEARTBEAT Heartbeat Polska/ Spiky/ Happy Outcome
10. LOUISE Louise/ Miser (aka The Deadline)/ The Catch
11. AUGUST
12. ISLINGTON Farewell To Islington
Pete and Richard's first album (Big Chain BC101), recorded and mastered by Jon Wilkinson at the Steam Rooms, London May-July 2001. Pete Cooper (fiddle & voice) and Richard Bolton (cello), with John Dipper (fiddle) on Chip and Buzz. Their set ranges from traditional 3/2 hornpipes to Lorna, described by Shirley Collins as 'quite simply one of the most beautiful and beguiling pieces of music I've heard.'
'Explores and invigorates the English stringband tradition'
- EnglishDanceand Song magazine
'Pete Cooper's fiddle playing will be well known to fR readers, and here he's joined by cellist Bolton (who's played on the last two June Tabor CDs amongst many other things). Add this one to the fast growing genre of 'folk extrapolated into classical'. There's plain honest dance tunes in there - not least the 'Abbot's Bromley Horn Dance' - but the duo find new and fascinating places to lead them to. A lot of the pieces are Cooper compositions, although I wouldn't underestimate the amount of improvisation and mutual intuition that's applied to them. His wistful 'August' is a particular highlight.'
- Nick Beale, fROOTS, June 2002
'Is this just another English folk music duo? Definitely not; the music of Pete Cooper and Richard Bolton is unique on the English scene… A lot of the material on their debut album is written by Pete Cooper, alongside traditional numbers. The roots of the music are in England, yet they take up influences from the 'Celtic' countries as well as the Balkans and Sweden. The musical pace changes between quiet and lively, and between improvising and straightforward traditional... the cello adding that special spice and jazzy-classical atmosphere to the music. Worth to check out!'
- Michael Moll, www.folkworld.de
'This is billed as an album of "fiddle and cello duets". Now that makes it a bit of an oddity in itself: hands up, the first person to tell me when they last heard a similar combination. But, in their sleeve notes both men are keen to tell us that… this combination is "deeply rooted" in ethnic English music. The tunes come from various sources, with compositions from Pete being particularly striking. They are written very much simpatico to the Tradition: drawing on various playing styles and dance forms. One in particular, 'August', has what it takes to be a classic along the lines of Jay Ungar's 'Ashokan Farewell'. And the playing of both guys is immensely authoritative, and a delight from start to finish… as close to a "Must Buy" as it gets.'
- Dai Woosnam, The Living Tradition
