The Butterfly Lovers violin concerto/piano concerto (Chen Gang/He Zhanhao)

[DennisS]

Naxos have just recently released a new version of this wonderful romantic violin concerto arranged for piano and orchestra - New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with as soloist Chen Jie. This latest version works quite well but is not, in my humble opinion,  quite as moving or as beautiful as the violin version. Notwithstanding that comment, the love theme that both opens and closes the concerto in both versions is truly memorable.

[TerraEpon]

A beautiful romantic piece and I would love to hear this arrangement.

If only it wasn't coupled with that so very boring Yellow River concerto...

[chill319]

FYI: The beautiful melody that opens the concerto is not original to the instrumental work. It was borrowed from the old Shaoxing opera of the same name. (Shaoxing opera is a regional operatic tradition where, in contrast to Peking opera, all roles are played by women and more emphasis is placed on lyrical melody.)

[EdwardHan]

Well, I don't think piano is a good substitution on The Butterfly Lovers. In China this piece has been arranged for many traditional instruments like erhu or gaohu, even chinese flutes, and they are much better.