Favre met Yang Jing at a 1999 festival in Beijing. They have since met numerous times for concert series. Pierre Favre understands his instruments in terms of musical possibilities (which include melodic and occasionally even harmonic structures); that is, he considers intimacy a quality worth striving for, with fine nuance and subtle, spontaneous reactions, so he also loves duos that act as extensions of his solo concept. Having been a soloist for the Chinese National Orchestra for twelve years, Jing is now world-renowned as both instrumentalist and composer. The China Daily may go so far as to call her "the backbone of contemporary Chinese music," but that does not limit her endless curiosity about new musical contexts. One such challenge is the art of improvisation (which once had a tradition in China, as well). TWO IN ONE is music of many colors, nuances, and possibilities. Even when a great deal of technique is involved (the pipa demands great skill), this music breathes, comes to rest, and explodes again. Artistic processes are transformed into natural phenomena. I almost wanted to say that a meditative inward turn seems like gravity here—but that would generate false associations with nebulous intercultural modes with nothing behind them but mushy, exotic longings for nowhere. This is the exact opposite. In the dialogues of Yang Jing and Pierre Favre, nothing is fuzzy; even in the most subtle pianissimos, the outlines are clear, shapely, contoured. The two partners do not leap to embrace each other with hasty empathy. What better way could there be to engage in truly intercultural dialogue?
