The Squid's Ear Magazine


Coombes, Nigel / Steve Beresford: White String's Attached (1979) (Emanem)

These 1979 duo concert performances from violinist Nigel Coomes and pianist Steve Beresford were generally considered at the time to be the most significant advance in violin & piano music for around 200 years.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Nigel Coomes-violin

Steve Beresford-upright piano


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Reissue of Bead LP 16 with 6 more duo minutes plus a 12 minute violin solo. 75 minutes.

UPC: 5030243503223

Label: Emanem
Catalog ID: 5032
Squidco Product Code: 18775

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2014
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: Cardstock foldover
Recorded at various locations on various dates. Originally released in 1980 on the vinyl on the Bead label as Bead 16

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Violinist Coombes explains things perfectly in his hilarious liner notes. Beethoven, he says, realized that the piano and violin sound horrible together, the instruments literally hate each other, and gave up after ten sonatas. "For us to try and surmount Beethoven's problems, for example, in the heat of trying to make the music up as we go along is almost laughable." Nonetheless, a blindfold test of this record to a knowledgeable listener often results in the music being misidentified as, say, a composition by Charles Ives, and rarely as an improvised piece. By the time of this recording, these players had been working together in a variety of contexts and could almost read each other's thoughts, though with music this demented that might not be a good idea.

Coombes was a striking figure in this era; a slight, lean Englishman with an Angela Davis-type Afro, who was often clad in a dark duster. He would play on and on, often sounding like a collection of classical violin records being run through a cherry stoner. These duets are, above all, truly enjoyable to listen to. The timing is uncanny, as is the sense of drama. Decisions as to when to play hardly anything and when to unleash a bucketful of notes are intelligent, and often surprising."-Eugene Chadbourne, All Music


Reissue of Bead LP 16 with 6 more duo minutes plus a 12 minute violin solo. 75 minutes.


This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Get additional information at All Music

Artist Biographies

"Steve Beresford (born 1950) is a British musician who graduated from the University of York. He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, electronics, trumpet, euphonium, bass guitar and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music. He is probably best known for free improvisation, but has also written music for film and television and has been involved with a number of pop music groups.

Beresford played in Derek Bailey's Company events and in the groups Alterations with David Toop, Terry Day and Peter Cusack, and the Three Pullovers with Nigel Coombes and Roger Smith. He was also a member with Gavin Bryars and Brian Eno of the Portsmouth Sinfonia.

Beresford has continued to play free improvisation with a number of prominent musicians, including Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, and Han Bennink. He has collaborated extensively with Swiss-American artist/musician Christian Marclay and is an active member of the long-standing London Improvisers Orchestra.

From 2010 he performed various pieces by John Cage, including Indeterminacy with Tania Chen and comedian Stewart Lee, and a performance with Ilan Volkov at The BBC Proms 2012 at The Royal Albert Hall in London.

He has also worked with a number of popular musicians, including Ray Davis, The Slits, Frank Chickens, Ted Milton and The Flying Lizards. In 2015 he performed a duoproject with the upcoming Norwegian singer Natalie Sandtorv at the Blow Out! festival in Oslo, Norway.

He was awarded a Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists in 2012. He is a senior lecturer on the Commercial Music course at University of Westminster.

Beresford's music and his teachings have inspired the musical community in the UK for over a decade. British songwriter and performer Katy Carr cites Steve Beresford's lectures on musical themes associated with Free improvisation, Experimental music, John Cage, musique concrète, Diamanda Galás and The Slits as a source of initial inspiration with regards to the creation of her debut album, Screwing Lies released in 2001."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Beresford)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. White String's Attached 1 (Formerly 2) 15:01

2. White String's Attached (Formerly 1) 29:45

3. White String's Attached (Complete) 17:56

4. White String Detached 12:12

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
EMANEM & psi
Duo Recordings
Duo Recordings
Instant Rewards

Search for other titles on the label:
Emanem.


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