“Seven Decades of Timeless Hits”
is more than a trip down memory lane

Chow Fan Fu

When we describe something as ‘timeless’, we may actually be referring to something somewhere in time that has continued to be in our memory to this day. Music is one of them. The ‘seven decades’ in the title of the concert, Seven Decades of Timeless Hits is a nebulous term, a romanticized concept influenced by the famous film starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, Somewhere In Time, because the works that are on the programme may be more than 70 years' old, and may be less but with the potential of remaining popular in another 70 years’ time.

As the saying goes, “Music is where memory begins”. The interrelationship between the two is quite obvious. What we call “golden oldies” is loaded with the memories of bygone days, transporting us through the Time Tunnel to a world with gilt-edged anecdotes and images of the past.

Nostalgic feelings give us a sanctuary in the busy urban life, but they are not to be indulged in, because good feelings will diminish in intensity. Life should be forward-looking, so it also follows that this concert on “seven decades of timeless hits” should not be appreciated and understood solely from a nostalgic angle.

These golden oldies would appeal to different people for different reasons. The period hallmark of their music is the trigger for the flow of nostalgic feelings. But what is more important is that most of them share two qualities: beautiful, moving melodies which can instantly capture the fancy of the listeners, and the power to evoke emotional reactions. They are the key to the listeners’ remembrance of things past, and this is the reason why these old melodies can remain popular for 70, a hundred, or two hundred years. The melodies and emotions allow for flexibility of arrangement by later composers, and now they are enhanced by the highly expressive musicality of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra.

Since the orchestral form called ‘Chinese orchestra’ did not even exist 70 years ago, the music for this concert is in the hands of contemporary composers to ‘re-package’ it, to arrange it for a full-size Chinese orchestra, especially with a large orchestra of symphonic proportions like the HKCO. In so doing, while the melodies and the emotions can still re-ignite the nostalgic passions of many listeners, the modern colours and effects of the new arrangements will bring a new experience to everyone, and might even form new memories which the listeners will cherish in the days to come. For the younger generations, golden oldies presented in a modern setting and appearing with a new look will conjure up a romantic yearning for a bygone age, rather than memories of things past. Since the seven composers involved in the re-arrangement of these old works - Phoon Yew-tien, Lo Wai-leung, Alfred Wong, Yu Chiu-for, Ng Cheuk-yin, Joshua Chan and Chan Kar-wing – would come up with different interpretations owing to their differences in backgrounds and age, what an interesting mix it would be, to be sure!