Recorded live in Paul Hall, The Juilliard School
DMA Recital, April 2022
Transcription: Dominic Law
Double Bass: Dominic Law
Piano: Tengku Irfan
The Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese folk legend that tells the love tragedy between a young couple Liang Shangbo and Zhu Yingtai, in which the lovers die in the end and their spirits transform into a pair of butterflies, hence the title of the story “The Butterfly Lovers”.
I have first came across the piece about a year ago when I was looking for repertoire inspired by Chinese folk music to perform in my recital. This piece stuck out to me not only because of its beautiful melodies, but also its substantial plot. Its grounding on a love tragedy is similar to plots of a lot of Western music dramas. Therefore, this is a perfect opportunity for me to preach Chinese folk music to my audiences in the United States.
