A "final, private piano concert" from Ryuichi Sakamoto will be released as a new posthumous album.
Today, the estate of the late composer and Yellow Magic Orchestra co-founder revealed that a new collection titled Opus will arrive August 9 via Milan Records.
Opus collects reworkings of songs from across Sakamoto's career, performed over multiple sessions in 2022 at his NHK 509 studio in Tokyo.
The studio sessions will also be the subject of an accompanying concert film also titled Opus, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last September. Directed by Sakamoto's son, Neo Sora, the concert film will premiere June 30 via the Criterion Channel.
In a statement written prior to his passing, Sakamoto explained that Opus was "conceived as a way to record my performances — while I was still able to perform — in a way that is worth preserving for the future."
Alongside today's announcement, Sakamoto's solo piano arrangement of Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Tong Poo" can be heard in the player below.
"In some sense, while thinking of this as my last opportunity to perform, I also felt that I was able to break new ground," Sakamoto shared of the Opus sessions. "Simply playing a few songs a day with a lot of concentration was all I could muster at this point in my life. Perhaps due to the exertion, I felt utterly hollow afterwards, and my condition worsened for about a month. Even so, I feel relieved that I was able to record before my death — a performance that I was satisfied with."
Sakamoto passed away in April 2023. He was 71.
Opus:
1. Lack of Love
2. BB
3. Andata
4. Solitude
5. for Jóhann
6. Aubade 2020
7. Ichimei – small happiness
8. Mizu no Naka no Bagatelle
9. Bibo no Aozora
10. Aqua
11. Tong Poo
12. The Wuthering Heights
13. 20220302 – sarabande
14. The Sheltering Sky
15. 20180219 (w/prepared piano)
16. The Last Emperor
17. Trioon
18. Happy End
19. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
20. Opus – ending
