Imagine you are a composer, commissioned to write a work for two, primarily diatonic woodwind instruments, each possessing distinctive tone colors, a long history and strong cultural associations. You are writing music to be performed by two consummate masters of their instruments who can do virtually anything! Your biggest challenge is that you must somehow express the concept of “East Meets West.” This was the creative concept that shaped the recording ”Dialgoue: East Meets West.”

Dialogue - East meets West is the second CD in a series produced by OUR Recordings, entitled East meets West, which has as its name implies, explores the exciting musical potentials of having a dialogue between the two cultures. The first recording, Spirits-East meets West with Chen Yue, on Xiao and Lars Hannibal, on Guitar was released in April 2007. After experiencing the beauty of traditional Chinese music and the possibilities inherent in combining Chinese and Western musical instruments, it became obvious that the next step would be to see what would happen when the recorder and the equivalent Chinese instrument met in - as the Chinese would say - “a friendly encounter”.

”Dialogue – East Meets West” is the result of several years’ discussion and planning. It represents an exploration in sound, featuring ten new compositions by five young Chinese and five young Danish composers. Their works are colorful and varied and provide ten distinctive visions of the musical encounter between China and the West. Whether combining tradition and innovation, eastern and western elements, borrowed or newly created musical resources, each piece is an exploration of how these disparate and seemingly mutually exclusive views can provide new possibilities for creativity and beauty. While the very nature of a ”duet” implies a ”dialogue”, the variety of musical expressions create a ’dialogue within a dialogue’; the unique vision of each composer interacting with the vision of every other composer presented here.

Chinese Flute virtuoso Chen Yue and the First Lady of the Recorder, Michala Petri weave an echanting web of sound. Their musicianship will thrill you; the music they perform will enchant, challenge and entertain you. This is a recording for any listener interested in Contemporary Music – with a twist. fans of the recorder and Michala Petri and any adventurous collector looking to explore beautiful, unfamiliar repertoire recorded in demonstration-quality sound.