Li Sao is the great poem of Qu Yuan — the minister of Chu who loved his country, was exiled by it, and drowned himself in the Miluo River rather than live to see its fall. Written in the third century BCE, it remains the founding text of Chinese lyric poetry: a journey through grief, loyalty, and the search for truth that has no end.
This version was transcribed by Mei Yueqiang from the Zi Yuan Tang Qin Pu, and unfolds in sixteen sections.
The music is ancient in character — austere, deep, and restrained. It opens in brooding stillness, the mood heavy with unspoken feeling, and develops gradually toward something grander and more impassioned. Through the arc of its sixteen sections, the piece traces the full emotional landscape of Qu Yuan’s poem: the wandering exile, the longing for home, the refusal to compromise, the relentless search for what is true and right.
This is one of the most demanding pieces in the guqin repertoire — in length, in emotional depth, and in what it asks of the listener.
Recorded by Mei Yueqiang. Part of the ongoing series presenting his complete surviving recordings.
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