“I’m returning to the source, to the music of two divine composers—Bach and Mozart,” award-winning pianist KaJeng WONG tells Apple Music about two live albums recorded during his “Mostly Bach, All Mozart” concert series. As the title of the first album of the pair suggests, Mostly Bach features pieces not only by Johann Sebastian Bach, but also some material by other composers, including a keyboard sonata by Domenico Scarlatti. “There’s a festival in the United States called Mostly Mozart, so I went with this amusing title,” the Hong Kong-based artist says. “To tell you the truth, I wanted this to be my ‘best of Bach’. So I specifically selected my favourite of the French Suites, English Suites and Partitas for keyboard.” The project traces its origin back to January 2023. “Right as this opportunity arose, I was practising these pieces,” Wong says. “I said to myself, ‘If not now, when?’ I now understand that there are some things you can never completely prepare for. This was a happy accident because I never imagined I’d be able to perform Bach and Mozart’s representative works at this stage of my life.” Below, the pianist shares with Apple Music the concept behind the album and his thoughts on performing Bach. Is there special significance behind your choice of some very familiar music? “These pieces range from the simplest etudes to the most complex sonatas and partitas. They’re pieces that most pianists have performed—and child pianists have practised. This is where Bach and Mozart shine: There’s a deep subtlety to the simple notes. And I put care into the order and relationship of the pieces on the programme, first on a tonal basis and then as an overall expression of my individuality and development. So when you listen to it, it’s like one critic said: This is my Goldberg Variations.” Talk us through your programme selection. “The album starts with the very simple Minuet in G Major and proceeds directly to French Suite No. 5 in G Major, which is the simplest and purest of them all—the one most filled with childlike innocence. From G major we develop to a fugue in D major, which completes the first section of the programme. Next is Scarlatti’s Sonata in A Major, a spiritual, transcendent slow piece. There’s motion in its stillness and stillness in its motion, right before the ecstatic English Suite No. 2 in A Minor. “I included the Scarlatti because there’s a philosophical and cosmological concept behind the Bach pieces. For the section in the key of A, I wanted a contrast with the English Suite—and I couldn’t think of a better piece than this. “The first half hour consists of pure music that is very conceptual in its expression. But in the next two pieces—one dark and one light—there’s an obvious humanity, an idea that’s very human. Continuing from darkness into light, we reach the grand Partita No. 4 in D Major for keyboard, which combines Bach’s most mature compositional techniques with sophisticated levels of emotion. Finally, from D we return back to the G major of the first selection with a conclusion that echoes our starting point.” What distinguishes a Bach performance, in your mind? “With Bach, every voice is its own world and is in conversation with the others. This means that Bach’s music doesn’t require an audience. It is an internal dialogue with himself—or with God.” Do you have a particular personal connection to any of the pieces? “The Allemande movement of French Suite No. 5 was probably the first piece I ever played at competition. Partita No. 4 was a piece I studied in university. English Suite No. 2 was my entry for the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in 2018. So you could say these pieces span three different periods of my life. My favourite is the Allemande movement of the partita.”