Customer Rating: 
Summary: As close to the 1954 original as possible.
Comment: THE BUTTERFLY LOVERS was China's greatest classical violin concerto. Written and performed in 1954, the music was recorded on a vinyl record on one side with YOUTH on the other side.
China's Great Leap Forward and Great Cultural Revolution destroyed copies of the original recording. Only a few survived. Luckily I preserved the two songs on cassette tape before the record was destroyed in a Texas flood following a hurricane.
Nothing compared with the original despite the "pops," scratches, and other distortions that were inherent in vinyl records. All other interpretations that came afterwards were not the same.
On the other hand, this particular CD version of THE BUTTERFLY LOVERS comes close for good reasons. Musicians from the 1954 Shanghai Conservatory Symphony Orchestra were gathered for the 1992 studio recording. Unfortunately, the original violinist was absent. So, an international contest was organized to seek out the replacement. Takako Nishizaki won.
The only difference between the original 1954 version and the newer 1992 recording was a short two second segment. Nishizaki interpretation was a bit faster and brighter. This may not be a distraction for many, but for a purist like me, it was noticeable.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: NOT the best Chinese music there is
Comment: 'The Butterfly Lovers' violin concerto is NOT the best that Chinese music has to offer, despite being one of the most well-known works in the Chinese repertoire. This goes for any interpretation of this work by any conductor and orchestra, not just this one. The first and the last ten-minute sections of the music (the entire concerto is nearly thirty minutes long) are admittedly just exquisite, but the middle portion, which is supposed to depict the struggles of the heroine against her adversaries, is utterly ruined by the use of the wood clapper, an extremely crude Chinese instrument which should never have been admitted into the otherwise beautiful work. It's as if a large carbuncle were painted onto the nose of the Mona Lisa. The composers He Zhanhao and Chen Gang really should have known better. Much of Chinese music is actually genuinely beautiful, but there are also 'earsores' aplenty -- some of which have been unhappily incorporated into the concerto.I wish to comment a little incidentally on the uncharitable characterization of Chinese music provided by one of the reviewers below, darragh o'donoghue, to the effect that native Chinese music sounds like 'a lunatic charging through a kitchen'. I really don't think such a comment is fair to Chinese music at all -- there is a great deal of authentic Chinese music that is quite as beautiful as anything by, say, Ralph Vaughan Williams. To make sweeping claims on the music of a cultural tradition on the basis of what one finds in a few films would be about as objective as, say, saying of Western music that it sounds like the screams of barbarians solely on the basis of listening to Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps. Or rap or heavy metal.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A comptent attempt, nothing more.
Comment: When the "Butterfly Lover Concerto" was first conceived, it was intended to distill the best of Western classical and traditional Chinese folk music into an well-paced and passionate narrative drama. To bring out its full color and texture, Chinese folk musical instruments were brought in. The concerto divides into "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai studying together", "saying goodbye", "Zhu resisting the arranged marriage"), "Liang and Zhu meeting again in Zhu's house, and finaly "Lovers transforming into butterflies". The violinist here is the voice of the young lovers. In neither the Naxos or Marco Polo version could Ms. Nishizaki convey much emotion through her interpretation. Too many details, when emphasized and refined, would have significantly elevated the interpretation, were sadly neglected. The Bratislava Orchestra in the Marco Polo CD did not provide enough support, sounding perfunctory and all too timid. In contrast, the Shanghai orchestra in the Naxos CD did a much better job in maintaining the dialogue with the soloist. As for other pieces played by Nishisaki, I feel that she was competent, but lacked character.To this date, Ms. Yu Li Na, the first person ever to play the Butterfly concerto, remains its best interpreter. Technically superb, she never let it overshadow the most important elements in the concerto: love, loss, and devotion. And she made it sound SO easy. Her attention to the details was exquisite and gratifying: I feel like I can hear the lovers murmur, the wills clash and butterflies fluttering in the storm. It takes a lot of guts to display such vulnerability and intimacy in her interpretation.
In a recording from the late 50s (which I think is available on cassettes), Ms. Yu also recorded the pieces which Ms. Nishizaki played in the Naxos and Marco Polo CDs. She brought much more vitality and intimacy to her music. You don't just hear the music, you see vivid images and hear laughters and shouts of joy.
I do not usually write such long reviews. But the "Butterfly Lover Concerto" is very close to my heart. Tapes of her music are usually available in Chinese bookstore. I sincerely hope whoever is interested in modern Chinese music also takes the time to discover Ms. Yu.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Chinese music of all
Comment: This is the best Chinese music of all. Also the performer Takako Nishizaki is the top violin performer in Japan. She is also the best of all performers for "Butterfly Lovers". Highly recommended. If you have any thing connected to China or Chinese culture, this is one you must have and love.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Music to swoon dreamily to.
Comment: 'The Butterfly Lovers' may be the most famous work in the Chinese classical canon, and its narrative may be derived from Chinese folklore, but there is very little Chinese about it. A conventional violin concerto from the softer Romantic spectrum (cf Bruch, Elgar), its broad melodies, spaces for virtuosic solo playing and orchestral development are overlaid with Chinese folk colour, in the same way a Hollywood film set in China might do. It is no more authentically Chinese than Massenet's 'Le Cid' is Spanish, or 'Madama Butterfly' is Japanese. For the listener, this is a relief. Anyone who has seen 'Farewell My Concubine' will know that native Chinese music, to the uninitiated Western ear, sounds like a lunatic running amok in a kitchen, all clanging percussion and wailing stutters. 'Lovers' tells its love story in unabashed Western romantic colours that paint pictures and stir emotions - even its rhythmic passages are reassuringly familiar.
The other pieces on the CD follow the same pattern, all soupy, dreamy melancholy, all wonderfully touching, strongly evoking natural or communal worlds. Nishizaki is considered the leading interpreter of this music, but it is surely not because she is Asian, but because of her experience in the Romantic violin repertoire, from Beethoven to Brahms to Berg. What IS authentic about this recording is that she is accompanied by the orchestra and conduuctor who gave the piece's premiere in 1959.
