Pei Lan is one of the Four Great Pieces of the Guangling School — a piece of rare stillness and quiet feeling.
The piece is attributed to Mao Minzhong of the Song dynasty, set in the yu mode, in fifteen sections. Mei Yueqiang transcribed this version from the Jiao'an Qin Score, preserving its classical lineage with care.
The melody is clear and unhurried, elegant without effort. It carries what the score describes as a mood of "serene wandering" — and beneath that calm, a current of feeling that rises quietly through the fingers, unannounced.
Pei Lan — the orchid worn at the belt — is an ancient image of the scholar's integrity: fragrant not to impress, but simply because that is its nature. The music holds the same quality. It does not reach for emotion. Emotion finds it.
In the Guangling tradition, this is a piece for those who have learned to listen without waiting for something to happen.
Recorded by Mei Yueqiang. Part of the ongoing series presenting his complete surviving recordings.
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