The Indication of King's Harmonica Quintet

5 March 1996, New Evening Post, Chow Fan-fu

Five alumni of King's College of Hong Kong formed the King's Harmonica Quintet in 1987. Their "winners'" concert on 9 Feb 96 at the City Hall Theatre is indicatory to the mass of harmonica lovers.

The programme of the concert included classical music spanning more than two centuries. In the past, it has been a practice to enhance or present the expressiveness of harmonica through classical music. This practice has been demonstrated by Western harmonica soloists like Larry Adler and Tommy Reilly, Chinese harmonicists like Cham-Ber Huang and De-Min Xu, and even the local harmonica master Liang Re Zhiao. The King's Harmonica Quintet has made one step further, by extending the repertoire to the classic string quartets.

String quartets are regarded as music from the heart of composers and require skill as well as musicianship of all four players. By playing string quartets with harmonicas, one can prove that harmonicas are equally suitable for interpreting compositions with considerable depth. However, to do this successfully, the players must have a close and enduring relationship. In the past, many harmonica enthusiasts abandoned harmonica or were stuck because of lack of buddy. The success of King's Harmonica Quintet indicates a new avenue. By binding together harmonica players into an ensemble and through motivation among the players, one's interest in harmonica playing can be maintained and one's skill in harmonica playing can be improved.

The King's Harmonica Quintet is composed of two treble harmonicas, two tenor harmonicas and one bass harmonica. The key to the success in interpretation of string quartet is the arrangement. It must preserve the soul of the work while expressing the uniqueness of harmonicas. In that night's programme, there are two works arranged from string quartets: Moderato of Shostakovich's Third Quartet and Finale of Dvorak's American Quartet. They are both arranged by Ho Pak Cheong who is a member of the Quintet. Undoubtedly, there is still a gap between the overall effects of a string quartet and a harmonica quintet. Nevertheless, the balance of tonality, the delicacy and the expressiveness are at a par. One must point out another critical factor for a good performance: the proper balance in the sound system. It was achieved with success in the concert to the degree that the audience barely noticed the existence of the sound system.

The King's Harmonica Quintet also played "Spring" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Faure's Pavane and, together with Herman Ho, played Enesco's First Romanian Rhapsody and the only Chinese work Spring Festival Overture by Li Huan-zhi. In all these works, the Quintet showed off the uniqueness of harmonicas as well as reproduced faithfully the style of the works.

This concert is called the "winners' concert" as a result of the remarkable results of the Quintet in the 1995 World Harmonica Championships held in Yokohama, Japan in October last year. The programme includes all the winning entries in the Championships. The Quintet made 7 entries, and won one champion, two first runners-up, one second runner-up, one fifth place, and two sixth places. The Quintet won the first runner-up in the 4-6 Persons' Group category with the Finale of American Quartet. As revealed in this concert, the King's Harmonica Quintet has achieved a high level in their skill and cooperation. In future, besides arranging string quartets by themselves, they should ask for help from composers in the arrangement of works, or even writing works for the Quintet. That would certainly give stimulation to the form of harmonica quintet.

Original article is in Chinese, translated to English by Lau Chun Bong.