The Recordings of Mei Yueqiang: A Complete Discography

Mei Yueqiang (梅曰强, 1929–2003) was one of the most important guqin masters of the twentieth century — the tenth-generation inheritor of the Jinling school and the eleventh-generation inheritor of the Guangling school. Over the course of his life, he committed to tape a body of recordings that now stand as one of the most significant archives in the history of the guqin. In 1991, the China Art Research Institute recorded twenty-eight pieces performed by Mei Yueqiang, preserved as national audio archives.

His recordings span two major sessions: the first made in 1991, when he was in his early sixties and at the height of his interpretive powers; the second made in 2003, the final year of his life, when he gathered his students and colleagues for a last, definitive documentation of his art. Together, these recordings preserve not only his personal voice, but the living transmission of two great schools — Guangling and Jinling — as they existed in the twentieth century.

A note on the repertoire: several pieces appear in both the 1991 and 2003 sessions. These are not duplicates. They are two different readings of the same music, separated by more than a decade of life and reflection. To listen to both versions of Shan Ju Yin or Ping Sha Luo Yan is to hear how a master's understanding deepens with age.

The Yiyun Zhai Qin Score (移云斋琴谱)

Twenty years after Mei Yueqiang's passing, his students gathered his life's work into a single volume: the Yiyun Zhai Qin Score — named after the studio where he spent his final years in Yangzhou. Divided into a Jinling section and a Guangling section, the score is a complete record of the repertoire Mei Yueqiang received from both schools: every piece he learned, notated exactly as he transmitted it, with detailed annotations on fingering, phrasing, and lineage.

The historical significance of this publication is difficult to overstate. For the Jinling school, it is the first major score to appear since Yang Lun published the Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qin Score in the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty — a gap of 415 years. For the Guangling school, it is the sixth great score in the tradition, arriving 156 years after the last — the Jiao'an Qin Score, published in the Qing dynasty.

Published in the same era is the Jinling Qin Score, First Compilation by Xue Guo'an — a student of Mei Shijun, Mei Yueqiang's eldest son, and a fellow second-generation inheritor of the tradition. Xue Guo'an is a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Museum of Culture and History, an appointment conferred by the Governor of Jiangsu Province — one of the highest forms of official recognition for a cultural practitioner in China, roughly equivalent to a gubernatorial appointment in the United States. He is also a co-founder, alongside William Xu, of the Nanjing Yuyuan Silk Society, a guqin circle dedicated to preserving the Jinling tradition. Together, these two volumes — the Yiyun Zhai Qin Score and the Jinling Qin Score — mark a quiet renaissance of two schools that had nearly fallen silent.

The Yiyun Zhai Qin Score contains the notation for all twenty-eight pieces Mei Yueqiang recorded — the complete transmission of both schools.

1991 · Guangling Collection (广陵集)

1. Shan Ju Yin 山居吟 — Chant of the Mountain Hermit
2. Qiao Ge 樵歌 — Woodcutter's Song
3. Ping Sha Luo Yan 平沙落雁 — Wild Geese Descending on the Sandbar
4. Mei Hua San Nong 梅花三弄 — Three Variations on Plum Blossoms
5. Geng Shen Diao Wei 耕莘钓渭 — Plowing at Shen, Fishing at the Wei
6. Qiu Ye Du Yi 秋夜读易 — Reading the Book of Changes on an Autumn Night
7. Yu Ge 渔歌 — Fisherman's Song
8. Pei Lan 佩兰 — Wearing Orchids
9. Mo Zi Bei Si 墨子悲丝 — Mozi Mourns the Silk

1991 · Jinling Collection (金陵集)

1. Yi Gu Ren 忆故人 — Remembering an Old Friend
2. Qiu Sai Yin 秋塞吟 — Autumn Lament at the Frontier
3. Liang Xiao Yin 良宵引 — Prelude to a Fine Evening
4. Jing Guan Yin 静观吟 — Meditation in Stillness
5. Qiu Jiang Ye Bo 秋江夜泊 — Moored on the Autumn River at Night
6. Zui Yu Chang Wan 醉渔唱晚 — The Drunken Fisherman Sings at Dusk
7. Yu Qiao Wen Da 渔樵问答 — Dialogue Between Fisherman and Woodcutter
8. Feng Lei Yin 风雷引 — Prelude of Wind and Thunder
9. Pu An Zhou 普庵咒 — The Pu'an Chant

2003 · Guangling Collection (广陵集)

1. Shan Ju Yin 山居吟 — Chant of the Mountain Hermit
2. Qiao Ge 樵歌 — Woodcutter's Song
3. Ping Sha Luo Yan 平沙落雁 — Wild Geese Descending on the Sandbar
4. Mei Hua San Nong 梅花三弄 — Three Variations on Plum Blossoms
5. Wu Ye Wu Qiu Feng 梧叶舞秋风 — Paulownia Leaves Dancing in the Autumn Wind
6. Mo Zi Bei Si 墨子悲丝 — Mozi Mourns the Silk
7. Geng Shen Diao Wei 耕莘钓渭 — Plowing at Shen, Fishing at the Wei
8. Qiu Ye Du Yi 秋夜读易 — Reading the Book of Changes on an Autumn Night
9. Li Sao 离骚 — Encountering Sorrow

2003 · Jinling Collection (金陵集)

1. Qiu Sai Yin 秋塞吟 — Autumn Lament at the Frontier
2. Yi Gu Ren 忆故人 — Remembering an Old Friend
3. Liang Xiao Yin 良宵引 — Prelude to a Fine Evening
4. Jing Guan Yin 静观吟 — Meditation in Stillness
5. Qiu Jiang Ye Bo 秋江夜泊 — Moored on the Autumn River at Night
6. Zui Yu Chang Wan 醉渔唱晚 — The Drunken Fisherman Sings at Dusk
7. Yu Qiao Wen Da 渔樵问答 — Dialogue Between Fisherman and Woodcutter
8. Qiu Feng Ci 秋风词 — Song of the Autumn Wind
9. Yang Guan San Die 阳关三叠 — Three Refrains at Yangguan Pass

A Note on Transmission

The 2003 recordings carry something the 1991 recordings do not: an explicit record of lineage. Each piece is annotated with its source of transmission — whether from Liu Shaochun, from Xia Yifeng, from Wang Jianhou, or from oral teaching passed down through Qutong Hua. This was not incidental. Mei Yueqiang understood that he was making a final document, and he wanted the record to show not just what he played, but from whom he had received it.

In the guqin tradition, a piece of music is never merely a piece of music. It is a chain of human relationships — teacher to student, generation to generation — stretching back across centuries. To name the transmitter is to honor that chain. It is to say: this music did not begin with me, and it will not end with me.

Mei Yueqiang passed away in 2003, the same year these final recordings were made. He left behind students, scores, and these recordings — a complete transmission of two schools, preserved in sound.

Of the twenty-eight pieces Mei Yueqiang recorded, twenty-two — drawn from the published Guangling and Jinling Collections of 1991 and 2003 — will be released here one by one, each accompanied by a short essay.

Release Schedule