律竹未鸣 · Before the Pitch Pipe Sounds

An imagined 古風 vignette set in a snowbound Jin palace, where Shi Kuang holds one green pitch pipe above cooling ash and refuses to hurry a note for the court. The erhu carries the human grain of the verses; sparse guqin leaves room for the silence around each test of pitch.

Listen late at night, while reading, or whenever you want a quiet piece that lets one withheld note matter.