Dazzling possibilities – A concert with the Swiss European Chinese Ensemble in Fribourg
by Dominique Dreyer, Oktober 2017
“… The instruments forming the Ensemble produce an interesting “sound”…The variety of the program, the high quality of the music and of the performers as well as the creative inspiration of the works, all these concur to make of this concert not only an interesting experiment of “East meets the West” or “West meets the East”, but a truly purely cultural and musical enjoyment…”
‘Outstanding premiere of <Feuer und Erde>
The work of the composer and soloist Jing Yang premiered in Uznach. The Musizierkreis lake filled so even high expectations.
... The composition was a challenging, … here or there have new elements after efforts to be understood. However, it has cut through after in a long time weekly rehearsing to work out this self-chosen work.
The composer was also requested as a soloist, while concert keeping about half an hour such a high mental and physical concentration. Pipa possibly similar with Balalaida (an early European instruments), but again is totally different.
It was able to keep listeners breathless listening. The music itself has cached listeners from the first tone until the last note.
And certainly the way how Jing Yang incredibly moving her fingers, so let the whole hand slip on and between the strings and as the title of the work was completely fair.
It was simply great.’ more…
Arnold B. Stampfli Südostschweiz 19 November 2014
“On “Moving East”, Yang’s florid thumb-picked melodies over four-finger tremolos recall flamenco guitar while on “Salü Abend” her sweeping string-bends into deep scalloped frets evoke Mississippi Delta slide blues and her scooping ornaments on “Birnenblüten” echo an Indian sitar.” more…
Tom Greenland, THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD, USA June 2013
“(…) She emphasizes the rhythm and always brings back new, yet never heared sound patterns and accents. The ensemble (First European Chinese Ensemble ZHdK) spreads a carpet of sound and falling in different moods: violent, agitated, eruptive, alternating with gentle, almost spherical oscillations. All this carries itself with such self-evident that the audience is hardly aware of the precision and discipline that is effective here.”
Zofinger Tagblatt, Oktober 27, 2009
“Yang Jing on the four-string pipa demonstrated subtle unconfined sound-sophistication, partly improvised or, inspired by ancient Chinese poems of the Tang dynasty, following strict classical rules.”
Karl Gabriel von Karais in Österreichische MUSIKZEITschrift, January, 2008
“Most probably inspired by the phenomenal pipa soloist Yang Jing…Wen Deqing explores the sound potential of the Chinese lute pipa. Yang crowned the premiere with a fulminant encore, in which she employed her instrument in a truly border-crossing way.”
Jürg Huber in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, NZZ Switzerland September 25, 2006
“The play of the grandiose pipa virtuoso Jing Yang and of the european orchestra body merge into an impressive synthesis.”
Michael Kunkel in Tages-Anzeiger, Switzerland September 25, 2006
“The pipa, played with overwhelming virtuosity… Worthy of a festival. Long applause. Bravos.”
Rudolf Jöckle in Frankfurter Neue Presse, Germany July 24, 2006
“Jing certainly lives up to her reputation in the concerto; … she has created her own cadenza, … in which she is absolutely dazzling.”
David Lewis in All Music Guide, USA 2006
“…A different highlight of the festival rests in calm restraint and interactive discipline – the duo Pierre Favre, drums and Yang Jing, pipa offered a musical experience of unex-pected high meditative intensity.”
Christian Broecking in Frankfurter Rundschau, Germany December 5, 2005
“Yang Jing presented herself as a highly virtuoso soloist on the Chinese lute…most memorable is Chen Yi’s „Ning” for pipa, violin (Mira Wang) and cello (Jan Vogler).”
Peter Zacher in Sächsische Zeitung, Germany 22.August 2005
“…The concerto was played … by a strikingly beautiful and extremely gifted musician entrancing her audience. … An impressive array of timbres and effects … that show-cased Yang Jing’s outstanding technique and musicianship. Her performance was visu-ally and aurally stunning, her strong, slender, graceful fingers flying over the strings, and stormy outbursts countered by the most delicate “ping” of a plucked harmonic. She excelled in the finest nuances of expression, each note a gem, perfectly placed. …”
Ruth O. Bingham in The Honolulu Advertiser, USA March 13, 2005
“On the 15th of Nov 2003, a sold-out concert at the Jordan Hall, Boston, attracted more then a thousand people. Under the current economic situation it is a rare case that a clas-sical concert attracts such a vast audience…In the second half, Yang Jing, captivated the audience by …her stage presence. She played the new pipa concerto by Chinese composer Mo Fan with such brilliant virtuosity and musi-cality …that she and the conductor had to return to the thunderous applause several times.”
sina.com.cn, November 21, 2003
“In these last twenty extraordinary years of China’s music development Yang Jing has marked her undoubted position as a leading musician and composer”.
Li Xi’An in People’s Music, China November 17, 2003
“A standard orchestra (no less than members of the St. Louis Symphony) accompanied the Opera Theatre’s productions, supplemented by extraordinary performances by Yang Jing on the lutelike pipa…”
Paul Horsley in the Kansas City Star, USA June 25, 2000
“The combination- at times concertante, then again in surprisingly saturated “Tutti” – is rooted in the rich experience of the musicians [Yang Jing and Pierre Favre] …who through their superior technical skills have the capability to add a strong character to the tiniest musical inflection…”
David Wohnlich in Basler Zeitung (Basle Daily) Switzerland, November 1, 2002
“… Music played exquisitely …by Yang Jing was firmly associated with a particular character.”
Heidi Waleson in the Wall Street Journal, USA July 5, 2000
“…New worlds of sounds are created and the rhythms shift. Grand World Music in a small formation.”
Lorenz Schaffner in Luzerner Woche (Lucerne Weekly), Switzerland September 25, 2002
“Favre and Yang’s co-operation has set many of the country’s musicians to thinking about more spontaneous forms of music.”
Li Xing in China Daily, China May 4, 2001
“… I was completely overwhelmed by Yang Jing’s fascinating pipa … her splendid fin-ger technique is dazzling brightness. Its subtle and various tone colours … create music as if it were a rainbow.”
Toru Yuki in Ongaku No Tomo, Music Magazine, Japan February 1999
“… Chinese pipa solo brilliantly played by Yang Jing in Miki’s Pipa Concerto…”
The Asahi, Japan February 9, 1999
“… Yang Jing on the pipa is indeed a virtuoso of a Heifetz-like quality … the music was as attractive as it was fascinating in the variety of timbres from this beautiful instrument.”
Michael Kennedy in The Sunday Telegraph, UK April 12, 1998
A Touch of Eternity
Zürichsee-Zeitung, by Brigitt Züger, November 2014
“The Yang commissioned work …. orchestra mystically played the first soundscapes unusual harmonies, increasing density, which let your own body vibrating.
The composition fascinated by otherness, a refined percussion with some completely unknown noise. Yang merged with her Pipa.
The audience entered in the millennia an ancient Chinese music reflected to modern western sounds again and again. At the same time, the great attraction was the poetic and powerful virtuosity of the musician. What very impressive was also conductor Becker has done in rehearsal the orchestral part, what had to come to grips with the musicians the beat and disharmony. People were totally attract in a foreign world.
The applause was no end, so that the Chinese gave away two encores – Pipa solo. The admiration to her playing art remained. …”
“The rhythmic force and string bends that Yang Jing brings to her Salü Abend can suggest roots in the Mississippi Delta, while Doran infers multiple musical languages in the shifting tracery that he applies to Yang’s melody on Birnenblüten.” more…
Stuart Broomer, MUSICWORKS MAGAZINE, Toronto/Canada April 2013
“When the genius and grace combined with each other, creates expressive, timeless music, as the Chinese musician Yang Jing … It was more: Yang Jing played the individual strings of the pipa speaking formally and dance …”
Volksblatt/Rheinzeitung, Eschen, Lichtenstein6 July 2010
“…Jing Yang, a pipa virtuoso, and especially the touching foreign sounds of the pipa lingers long in the air. Sometimes it sounds like a harps, and sometimes like a mandolin. Just listen to her is already well worth the visit of “Ai-En ‘.”
Susanne Benda, Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Germany 23.February 2010
“Already during the show and after that there were long applauses for the international renowned Pipa soloist Yang Jing. With her impressive style of playing she gave the evening a special light.“
Christian Jung, Augsburger Allgemeine, Germany 21.February 2010
‘…When Yang Jing intoned her unique solo, the audience held its breath to catch each sound…’
Mianpost, Germany 20 February 2010
“Yang Jing conjures never heard virtuosic sounds with her Chinese lute, the Pipa. Her performance is an event to be heard in the Japanese opera, “Ai-en”.”
Birgit Sommer, Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, Germany 17.February 2010
“In particular (…) the nuances-rich sounds of the most brilliant and world-renowned Chinese pipa master Yang Jing “Shizuka” were the big attraction.”
Tokyo News, August 30, 2007
“…The main attraction of the concert however was the phenomenal composer and virtuoso pipa-soloist Yang Jing. … Her performance was just astonishing… a floating glissando made one hear the pearls dropping and in “Geyser” Yang Jing conjured the vigorous forces of nature, from tender and impressionist sound-effects à la Debussy to the explosive force of a firebird.
“It was simply breath taking yet always presented with charm and grace like it was child’s play. Ovations for Yang Jing, ovations for all…”
Susanne Rudolph in Südwest Presse, Germany July10, 2007
“And Yang Jing strikes the sparks out of her pipa, first in the orchestra, later on stage, a great and grandiose solo, for which the remaining story suddenly seems to come to a stand still.”
Clemens Prokop in Opernwelt, Switzerland April 2006
“…With virtuosity Yang Jing showed how musical values prevail over flamenco tech-nique. Her duo with the Swiss drummer Pierre Favre revealed a very graceful and dynamical touching music.”
Ueli Bernays in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, NZZ Switzerland November 28, 2005
“…Even though Favre as well as the highly decorated pipa master from Beijing ex-plored different areas of the world and styles, the exoticism vanished after a short period of adjusting the ears. What was far more intriguing was how instruments so different in sound and dynamics are able to tell stories together.”
Frank von Niederhäusern in Tages Anzeiger, Switzerland November 28, 2005
“…First and foremost, she plays with authority, making every move seem both effort-less and inevitable… But more impressive are the sounds she elicits from this guitar-like instrument. From impossibly rapid tremolos to subtle bending of pitches, chiming chords, and ghostly knocking sounds, the variety of timbres on Friday night was kalei-doscopic.
Miki’s concerto showcases her talents admirably. … The cadenzas in the first and third movements allow ample scope for the soloist’s speed, expressivity, and dramatic flair…. The audience was especially receptive, roaring its approval of the ‘Pipa Concerto’.”
E. Douglas Bomberger in Honolulu Star-Bulletin, USA March 13, 2005
“I have been aware of Yang Jing’s fame but her virtuosity went beyond my expecta-tions. […] Her playing made me feel like the Tang poet Bai Juyi who was so moved by a beautiful pipa player. Yang Jing’s susceptible performance enslaved me to her pas-sionate way of performing.”
Tamiko Ogura in Ongaku No Tomo, Japan June 2002
“Yang Jing extracts far more from the pipa than tradition would allow. She transcends the symptomatic nasal sounds of Chinese string instruments in an awe-inspiring way. There were explosive sound effects, ethereal harmonics and colorful cantilenes created by lyric tremoli.”
Dominik Schnetzer in Neue Zuger Zeitung, Switzerland November 4, 2002
“There is a comforting, hypnotic effect throughout the CD [“Moments”, with Swiss drummer Pierre Favre] with the artists experimenting with a freeform approach and an interesting combination of sound and silence. It is a unique collaboration and a unique recording that gets under the skin even of cynics like me.”
Jim Patricks in Beijing Journal, China June 10, 2001
“The plucked sounds of the pipa… give the orchestration not just a superficial ‘Asian’ sound, but an appealing vibrancy and expressiveness. Indeed, traditional instrumentalist Yang Jing bore much of the musical weight throughout the evening, playing with aston-ishing facility.”
Philip Kennicott in the Washington Post, USA June 19, 2000
“She played my difficult concerto with not only highly controlled technique but also true musicality. Her solo pieces can be composed only by an excellent performer who knows the instrument very well – I always said that Yang Jing is a genius – but now I have to add: she is a miracle!”
Minoru Miki in Tokushima News, Japan December 2000
“Miki’s inventive score converses in authentic Japanese tones … pipa and koto are con-stant virtuosic voices in the texture…”
Financial Times, USA June 21, 2000
“The range of the Pipa is extraordinary, if there were Beatles today this would be their sitar… To rafter-shaking applause she returned, to demonstrate the ultimate flexibility of the Pipa. Should we believe our ears, or was this more Chinese magic? “
Keith Phybus in the Advertiser, UK Friday, May 29, 1998
“Yang Jing’s music combines a deep cultural background and an extreme power of un-derstanding music with a virtuoso technique. Bursting with creativity she celebrates the coming of a new era in music.”
Xie Mei in Music Weekly, China August 15, 1997