Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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Live Recording from February 28th, Yu Garden Cocert Venue, Hamburg, Germany.

Voice: Ying Xiao
Piano: Stefan Bötel

The brocaded harp is an ancient Chinese poem by poet Li Shangyin (813-858) put into music by composer Wang Long.

A very rough translation into English would go like this:

The ornate harp has fifty strings for no apparent reason,
Each string and each bridge is a reminder of years gone by.
Zhuangzi dreamed at dawn and mistook himself for a butterfly,
Emperor Wang transferred his springtime feelings to the cuckoo.
Under the moon above the vast sea, the pearl weeps tears,
Under the warm sun of Lantian, smoke rises from the jade.
These feelings might be worthy of remembrance,
But even then, they were filled with melancholy.

Check out my playlist for Chinese piano music:

youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6vPJToPyAlanbsOwo0nG4efO1ebeNVWv&si=4N3X2FOJMINm4FMz

Thanks for watching!