Butterfly Lovers

Written in 1959 by two Shanghai Conservatory students, He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, on melodies from Yue opera, this single-movement concerto became China's most beloved orchestral work almost overnight. The solo violin is Zhu Yingtai, the cello Liang Shanbo — their duets are the lovers' dialogues. The percussion-driven violence of the forced-marriage episode against the flute-and-harp transfiguration of the finale, where the lovers become butterflies, is the work's great dramatic arc.