Merry Christmas Lawrence

Contains live recordings of mostly the Last Emperor with orchestra and RS at the piano. A number of the tracks are not available on the film soundtrack. The remainder is mostly from Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. Here you get to hear these pieces played by orchestra, instead of synths.Interesting and different sounding item…

The Tohoku Youth Orchestra, a mixed orchestra of elementary school to university students from Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures, was started by Ryuichi Sakamoto immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake. As a memorial performance for director Ryuichi Sakamoto, who passed away on March 28 of the previous year, performances in Iwate, March 23, 2024, Miyagi, March 30, and Tokyo on March 31 were held. In addition to Ryuichi Sakamoto’s signature songs “The Last Emperor,” “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,” “Aqua,” and “The Sheltering Sky,” which were also performed in his last piano solo concert work “Opus,” he also performed at the opening of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Sakamoto wrote “El Mar” for the ceremony. This work is a complete recording of a concert composed entirely of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s songs, including “Mediterrani” and “Japanese Soccer Song”, which is known as one of the anthems of Japanese soccer. Sayuri Yoshinaga and Non participated in the reading corner.

Kaori Muraji herself selected popular repertoires such as popular songs, movie music and classical masterpieces, centering on her repertoire that she often plays in recent performances. The songs selected with the desire to send healing and ale with music to all those who endure the corona wreck are a collection of gems that are loved across genres. In addition, Kaori Muraji's feelings are included in the album title. Special recording of "Memory" of the musical "Cats" newly recorded for this best album. This new recording "Memory" was recorded under the direction of Soichi Muraji, the younger brother of the guitarist who is also her trusted co-star partner.