Wolfgang Sieber & Yang Jing: Dancing on a Bridge

In his ‘A Tramp Abroad’, Mark Twain mocked the mighty Hoforgan at Lucerne as a tourist attraction. ‘Dancing on a Bridge’ turns it into the location for a breath- taking encounter between East and West: the delicate, lute-like Chinese pipa and its subtle tone-colours meet an instrument weighing 20 tons and carrying with it 350 years of history. This CD recording is the result of a co-operation between two world-class musicians: Yang Jing is the uncrowned queen of the pipa—‘a virtuoso of a Heifetz-like quality’ (Sunday Telegraph). Her performance of the traditional piece ‘Moonlight’ counts over 1.2 million clicks on Youtube. Wolfgang Sieber, collegiate organist at Lucerne, is famous for accompanying ‘Red Bull Flying Bach’ with the same degree of passion as true folk music; his recordings from the ‘Seiberspace’ have many dedicated followers. The two exceptional musicians are equals in their stylistic diversity and visionary quality. ‘Dancing on a Bridge’ features unique arrangements of Chinese masterpieces and Swiss cult songs. The contrasting idioms of the two instruments generate stunning ‘Songs without Words’: sound-worlds that capture both the poetic imagery of Chinese lyrics as well as the snide, pointed ballads composed by the legendary Swiss song-writer Mani Matter.

Yang Jing
Wolfgang Sieber