黃霑書房

Wong Jum-sum loved music of all kinds, and had a particularly deep-seated passion for Western classical music.

In the 1950s, both Wong and classical music were finding their feet in Hong Kong society. The best they could do was to openly embrace the unknown.

To embrace the unknown, one needs support from all directions.

Thanks to Radio Hong Kong, Wong was able to listen to enticing music all day everyday, in that process learning to appreciate simultaneously the distinctive worlds of Shankar and Schubert.

Thanks to Leung Yat-chiu, he knew classical music held no special mystical aura. Whatever sounded good was good music.

Thanks to Wong Jum-sum himself, he learnt to read and absorb the principles and practices of making music, no matter whether they came from Bach or Beethoven.

Thanks to Hong Kong of the 1950s, he encountered a succession of visiting maestros, extending immensely his ideas about music and life.

Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major,
Op.61 (2nd movement) (1953) (excerpt)

Leung Yat-chiu taught Wong Jum-sum to play the harmonica. His brother, Paul Leung also helped to conduct the harmonica team on occasions of competitions. Paul Leung was a close friend of Wong, introducing among others the thoughts of Bertrand Russell and Arnold Toynbee to the latter when young.

During one competition, Paul Lee adapted the second movement of Beethoven’s violin concerto for harmonica playing. The team played it with heart. In that process, they opened themselves to a bigger world.

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