Remember LPs? Why internet helps young classical musicians surpass forerunners’ standards
- Hong Kong music professor Gabriel Kwok hails youngsters’ technique before his ‘GENK and Friends – Perfect Ten’ concert with nine of city’s veteran pianists
- December event, with Kwok and three other pianists who played at Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s 1989 opening, forms part of venue’s 30th anniversary celebrations
Today’s young classical musicians play to a higher standard than those of 30 years ago, says Gabriel Kwok, one of Hong Kong’s piano greats – and it’s all thanks to the internet.
“Youngsters today can easily get hold of music recordings, for example, on YouTube or via downloading, whereas when I was young, we had to buy LPs [long-playing vinyl records] and then CDs, says Kwok, professor and head of keyboard studies at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
Youngsters today can easily get hold of music recordings on YouTube or via downloading … to get to know the great masters and understand more about how they play. This has improved the standard of classical music … especially at the technique level
“It’s now much easier for them to get to know the great masters and understand more about how they play.
“This has improved the standard of classical music in general, especially at the technical level. Today’s youngsters have an amazing technical ability – particularly in China,” adds Kwok, who was awarded the Medal of Honour by Hong Kong’s government in 2014 for his contribution to piano education in the city.
Yet music is not only about technique, he says. “Music must also have a message and reach people’s hearts. So, while their technical side is very good and you could say they have more ability, one’s musical side develops with age.
“[Young musicians today] have an advantage as they can expand and deepen their knowledge of music by easily accessing recordings of how the greats play, but this does not mean they will necessarily be more convincing in presentation. It’s also about talent – you either have it or you don’t.”
‘GENK’ is formed from the first letter of our four names … we played at the 1989 opening of Hong Kong Cultural Centre … now 30 years on we have invited [our] friends to join us, hence ‘GENK and Friends’
Kwok and nine other pianists will be showcasing their own talents at a special evening concert on Friday, December 27, which forms part of celebrations marking this year’s 30th anniversary of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre – and three decades in the development of music.
The concert, “GENK and Friends – Perfect Ten”, features Kwok and three other pianists that played at the Centre’s opening in 1989: Eva Lue, Nancy Loo and Tam Ka-kit. The first letter of their four names, Gabriel, Eva, Nancy and Ka, spell GENK.
Multi-award-winning Lue, who studied at London’s Royal College of Music and also teaches at the HKAPA’s department of keyboard, has appeared regularly as a concerto soloist with orchestras, including the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
Today’s young musicians can expand and deepen their knowledge of music by easily accessing recordings of how the greats play, but this doesn’t mean they will necessarily be more convincing in presentation. It’s also about talent – you either have it or you don’t
Loo, a recipient of Hong Kong’s Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award in 1978, is one of the city’s most versatile artists, as pianist, radio programme hostess, actress and writer.
She has given solo recitals and performed with orchestras around the world and now teaches piano at the HKAPA and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is also the hostess of music programme Belle Nuit and the classical music radio show for children, Children’s Corner, on RTHK’s Radio 4.
Tam, a former professor at Britain’s Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, now lives in Canada. He has played around the world as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist, including with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra.
The four veterans will be joined on stage by six other accomplished pianists.
I don’t think we’ve had five concert grand [pianos] on stage in Hong Kong before. We want to make a perfect 10, which is meaningful in Chinese culture
Kwok says: “The four of us played at the opening of the Cultural Centre 30 years ago and 10 years ago we played together again in a celebratory concert – the same pianists but a different programme.
“Now 30 years on, we have invited [our] friends to join us, hence GENK and Friends.”
The friends are Enloc Wu, Margaret Lynn, Betty Woo, Eleanor Wong, Poon Chiu-fun and Choi Sown-le.
Wu has given numerous concerts and on-air programmes for RTHK and has won many music awards, including the Chappell Gold Medal and first prize in the National Federation of Music Societies’ Contest, while Lynn, a former associate dean and director of studies of the HKAPA’s School of Music, is now a member of the Divertimento Piano Trio, which presents more than 30 concerts each year in the UK.
Woo, a doctor of musical arts at Stanford University, has performed and conducted masterclasses and given lectures in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong and has made numerous recital and concerto appearances in the US, while Wong, a HKSAR Medal of Honour winner in 2014 for her contribution to music teaching, is a professor, senior lecturer and artist-in-residence at HKAPA.
Poon, a graduate of London’s Royal College of Music, is a former HKAPA faculty member and was executive director of the First Junior Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Beijing in 2016.
Choi, another Royal College of Music graduate, who also studied at the Conservatoire Musique de Genève and has performed with conductors including Maxim Shostakovich, is currently chairman and artistic director of the Hong Kong Piano Music Association.
The new concert has been conceived as taking off from where the 20th anniversary concert ended, with the Concerto in A minor for 4 Pianos, by Johann Sebastian Bach. The pianists will be backed by the Chamber Orchestra of the HKAPA, led by conductor Sharon Choa.
“In the concert 10 years ago we finished with [the] Bach concerto, this time we’re starting with this piece,” Kwok says. “Nancy and friends then continue the evening with Brahms’ Hungarian Dances.
The school system in Hong Kong prevents talented musicians from putting the necessary time into their music studies. There is too much focus on the school curriculum, so [many] gifted pianists, for example, aren’t able to progress
Kwok then plays Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, followed by Lavignac’s Galop – Marche, which sees the GENK members on stage together again, Gillock’s Champagne Toccata, and Piazzolla’s Libertango.
Each one of the chosen pieces was written for four pianists, including Wilberg’s Fantasy on Themes from Bizet’s Carmen, and Rosenblatt’s Fantasy on Japanese Themes. Only the finale breaks the mould, with Merry Collage 3X, which was specially commissioned for the concert by Hong Kong pianist Julie Kuok.
“The final piece by Kuok is the most interesting of all,” Kwok says. “We commissioned her to write it and she is very clever: she asked what pieces we would be playing, and she has integrated themes here and there from these pieces into her own new composition. It’s interesting and unique.”
All 10 pianists will take the stage for Kuok’s piece on five concert grand pianos.
“I don’t think we’ve had five concert grand [pianos] on stage in Hong Kong before,” Kwok says. “We want to make a perfect 10, which is meaningful in Chinese culture.
“We are all friends who have known each other for more than half a century. The youngest is Tam, who is 60 this year. This concert is a time to share music with old friends – it will be a very meaningful gathering for us.”
The veteran teacher is keen to encourage people to study music.
Learning music is good for everyone. It helps young people to develop their mind and be more disciplined and determined … and also helps to develop imagination and creativity
“Learning music is good for everyone,” he says. “It helps young people to develop their mind and be more disciplined and determined, even if later on they don’t end up studying music long-term. Learning to play music also helps you to develop your imagination and creativity.”
Unfortunately, many gifted young musicians in Hong Kong are unable to reach their full potential, he says.
“The school system in Hong Kong prevents talented musicians from putting the necessary time into their music studies,” Kwok says. “There is too much focus on the school curriculum, so [many] gifted pianists, for example, aren’t able to progress.”
Despite this, he is happy to see that interest music in Hong Kong is growing.
“The high number of young people in the audience at classical music concerts, especially in Hong Kong and Asia, is a good sign that classical music is booming,” Kwok says. “It is very encouraging to see.”