# Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto



## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

Hello Community,

Have you every listened to Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto? It is a Chinese violin concerto written for western orchestras, but the story behind it is a love legend took place in China and very common in Chinese operas. This VC is almost the only classical music my family listen to--it is so popular in China that everyone knows it. What do you think of it, in terms of composing techniques and orchestration? Background info can be found in Wikipedia.

KevinW






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_Lovers%27_Violin_Concerto


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

I've played it....some years back...forget who the soloist was...it was ok....


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

My Dad would listen to it every weekend. I hate it with a passion, along with the Yellow River Concerto. I feel they both lack any sort of subtlety.


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## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

Phil loves classical said:


> My Dad would listen to it every weekend. I hate it with a passion, along with the Yellow River Concerto. I feel they both lack any sort of subtlety.


Lol, why would your dad listen to these two every weekend? Why does he like these Chinese music that much?:lol:


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## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

Phil loves classical said:


> My Dad would listen to it every weekend. I hate it with a passion, along with the Yellow River Concerto. I feel they both lack any sort of subtlety.


Also, I don't think you should hate this piece just because it is always associated with audiences that do not know much about classical music. The Butterfly Lovers is a very nice concerto, though it isn't as complicated or advanced as other 20th century concertos like those done by Sibelius, Berg, Prokofiev, etc, but it incorporates a lot of elements from Chinese operas and that is what I personally like about. I don't expect Western people will like it that much, because they do not know much about the story itself and the music in Chinese operas, and that is totally understandable. Also, this is why I post this concerto here. I am not a professional composer nor conductor, so I want to know how good or bad is this violin concerto in terms of compositional aspects.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

> so I want to know how good or bad is this violin concerto in terms of compositional aspects.


Even if you believe in this concept, don't ask about it on TC. You won't get anywhere.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

KevinW said:


> Also, I don't think you should hate this piece just because it is always associated with audiences that do not know much about classical music. The Butterfly Lovers is a very nice concerto, though it isn't as complicated or advanced as other 20th century concertos like those done by Sibelius, Berg, Prokofiev, etc, but it incorporates a lot of elements from Chinese operas and that is what I personally like about. I don't expect Western people will like it that much, because they do not know much about the story itself and the music in Chinese operas, and that is totally understandable. Also, this is why I post this concerto here. I am not a professional composer nor conductor, so I want to know how good or bad is this violin concerto in terms of compositional aspects.


I should have used the word 'depth' rather than 'subtlety'. The Yellow River has no depth beyond a few tunes especially in the first 2 movements (I'm not a professional, but I think that is pretty obvious to anyone who knows it well). It's just bombast. I do think the Butterfly lovers is obviously better put together.


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## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

Phil loves classical said:


> I should have used the word 'depth' rather than 'subtlety'. The Yellow River has no depth beyond a few tunes especially in the first 2 movements (I'm not a professional, but I think that is pretty obvious to anyone who knows it well). It's just bombast. I do think the Butterfly lovers is obviously better put together.


Uh, I just watched the Yellow River Piano Concerto online. It is so, so funny! I totally understand why you dislike that piece! :lol: The Butterfly Lovers is different, though, because it depicts a love story, but Yellow River Piano is more like... You know.


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## KevinJS (Sep 24, 2021)

Thought I recognized it. Vanessa-Mae did it.


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## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

KevinJS said:


> Thought I recognized it. Vanessa-Mae did it.
> 
> View attachment 161591


No doubt she would have. My father likes her playing, but I think it isn't appropriate to play classical in the way of pop music.


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## KevinJS (Sep 24, 2021)

KevinW said:


> No doubt she would have. My father likes her playing, but I think it isn't appropriate to play classical in the way of pop music.


Oh, I don't know. Anything that brings the music to a wider audience is, IMO, to be applauded. Personally, I think JS Bach would approve:


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## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

KevinJS said:


> Oh, I don't know. Anything that brings the music to a wider audience is, IMO, to be applauded. Personally, I think JS Bach would approve:


I always listen to this... This sounds pretty fun but also kinda crazy... Bach wouldn't agree on this way of playing! :lol:


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## KevinW (Nov 21, 2021)

Actually, Mae's Toccata and Fugue is the very first version of this composition I listened to. That was when I was around 10 years old, and I thought this music should be played this way. Until last year when my interest in classical grew and started to listen to Bach, I found other people's performances were so different with this one. :lol: At that time I couldn't believe Mae's performance actually was not the way this composition should be performed...


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## KevinJS (Sep 24, 2021)

Well, there are many ways of performing the piece. Here's Sky with another take on it:


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Folks who like this 'butterfly' concerto might be(come) interested in Lou Harrison's _Pipa Concerto_


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

The use of the pentatonic scale in Ravel's Laideronette is way more complex and impressive than the Butterfly Lovers.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Phil loves classical said:


> My Dad would listen to it every weekend. I hate it with a passion, along with the Yellow River Concerto. I feel they both lack any sort of subtlety.


whatabout this?




or


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## 59540 (May 16, 2021)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Even if you believe in this concept, don't ask about it on TC. You won't get anywhere.


You'll get nowhere after about 50 pages of philosophizing.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Even if you believe in this concept, don't ask about it on TC. You won't get anywhere.


Then why would you want do this?:


BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> mikeh375 said:
> 
> 
> > Love to hear some of your music btw.
> ...


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

The _Butterfly Lovers Concerto_ is pleasant enough and mildly entertaining; sort of like something you'd hear as background music at a Chinese-American restaurant. The Pipa Concerto called _Little Sisters of the Grassland_, to my ears, is more exciting, dramatic, colorful and sweeping; something that Aram Khachaturian would compose had he been Chinese and not Armenian. Better than that is _Chinese Folk Dance Suite for Violin and Orchestra_ by Yi Chen which is far more cutting edge than _Butterfly Lovers_ as Yi Chen strives for an authentic Chinese sound that is less soothing and westernized.


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