The Collection and the Music Office

Resounding the Scores is a collection of fifty-five pieces of Chinese instrumental ensemble music associated with the Hong Kong Music Office (HKMO). Featuring arrangements and compositions by Tong Leung-tak, this collection also includes music by Yau Yuen-hing, Kwok Hang-kei, Chen Ning-chi, Ng King Pan, and Law Kin Pong. It showcases not only changes of stylistic trends in Chinese instrumental ensemble music, but also some notable aspects of the Music Office's development since its establishment in 1977.

As a former senior officer of HKMO between 1978 and 1998, Tong was actively involved in composing and arranging pieces of Chinese instrumental ensemble music for both pedagogical purposes and student performances. Attentive to his students' cultural and musical growth, he took advantage of his extensive experience as erhu virtuoso, Jiangnan sizhu player, and leader in professional Chinese and mixed instrumental ensembles, adapting a broad repertoire originated in Mainland China while introducing musical elements from other countries to his compositions and arrangements. Among the thirty-six pieces of his music in Resounding the Scores, one could find adaptations of qin and Jiangnan sizhu pieces as well as arrangements of both Western folk tunes and Chinese "red classics" (hongse jingdian). One could also find music written for specific events such as HKMO's tenth anniversary and the opening of Tsuen Wan Town Hall in 1980. These pieces were mostly, if not entirely, composed or arranged between the late 1970s and late 1980s, for ensembles of various sizes and instrumentations, reflecting the extensiveness of Tong's pedagogical engagement with HKMO.

Among the other nineteen pieces in Resounding the Scores, eight of them are Yau Yuen-hing's arrangements for chorus and the modern Chinese orchestra. Yau, who taught full-time at HKMO between 1981 and 2004, carried the roles of French horn instructor, conductor, and composer. He has been a sought-after conductor by student and amateur choirs, wind bands, and symphony orchestras during and after his tenure at HKMO. Accordingly, he has been a prolific arranger familiar with capabilities of student and amateur musicians. Kwok Hang-kei's six original pieces and one arrangement rather manifest both the composer's fascination with Russian folk music and his direct exposure to Yunnan's landscape and ethnic diversity.

The remaining four pieces in Resounding the Scores are all commissioned works completed after 2000: Chen Ning-chi's "Sparkling Fireworks" (Yanhua canlan) and "Poeticism and Whirlwind" (Shiyi yu kuangbiao) for Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra; Ng King Pan's "Linga" for HKMO; Law Kin Pong's "Chanson de jasmin" (Moli xiang) for Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra. Technically more demanding than most other pieces in this collection, they were written by three composers of different generations and backgrounds. Chen, who studied composition at the Central Conservatory of Music during the early 1960s, is known for his numerous collaborations with professional Chinese orchestras in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore since the late 1970s. Ng, whose composition teachers include Brenton Broadstock, Chan Hing-yan, Jan Ferm, and Julian Yu, is a multitalented composer-bandleader whose most recent works include a series of music videos for the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Law emerged as a composer-keyboardist in Hong Kong's music scene in the late 2000s; he received his bachelor and master's degrees in composition and electronic music from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.