Ryuichi Sakamoto

The fourth in Ryuichi Sakamoto's Year Book series. This volume of 5 CDs is of unreleased and rare tracks from 1985-1989. This was a particularly fruitful period for Sakamoto, gaining worldwide acclaim receiving an Academy Award for The Last Emperor soundtrack, several original albums, commercial music and live tours. He was using keyboards such as Fairlight CMI, Emulator II, Yamaha DX7. Tracks include performances with Yuji Takahashi, Kisaragi Koharu, Haruna Miyake, Kazumi Watanabe, a live session at Roppongi Inkstick, the 1989 NHK FM special song, Kaze no Michi, tracks such as his song Rachael performed by Sandii & The Sunsetz song, and unreleased The Garden for designer Tokio Kumagai.

Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一[a], Sakamoto Ryūichi, born January 17, 1952) is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, activist, and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres…

The Oscar-winning Japanese composer performs his latest album live in Stephen Nomura Schible's intimate concert film…

A collaboration between two of the best-known names in ambient music, the Japanese musician Ryuchi Sakamoto and the Austrian electronica artist Christian Fennesz, CENDRE is a hushed delight from start to finish, containing stately, minimalist pieces such as "Aware," "Kuni," and "Amorph." Fennesz provides the weightless electronic backdrop, into which Sakamoto drops precise chords that ripple the aural surface like smooth pebbles dropped into a pool.

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.

The album 1996 contains 12 pieces arranged for violin (Everton Nelson, David Nadien, or Barry Finclair), cello (Jaques Morelenbaum), and piano (Ryuichi Sakamoto), including both new compositions and music used in the soundtracks to The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Sheltering Sky, and High Heels. The music is for the most part restrained and reflective, as Sakamoto makes use of the contrasting timbres of the chamber instrumentation, mixing melodic and rhythmic effects soothingly (the exceptions being the more quick-moving "M.A.Y. in the Backyard" and "1919," which uses a barely audible voice and staccato playing to stirring effect).