The estate of Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Oscar-winning Japanese composer and Yellow Magic Orchestra member who died in 2023, has announced the posthumous album Opus, a document of Sakamoto’s final performances.
The recording was filmed over a series of private studio sessions at Tokyo’s legendary NHK 509 Studio in the fall of 2022, as he was too ill to perform the entire set at once; Sakamoto died in March 2023 at the age of 71 following a battle with cancer.
Opus, recorded on solo piano and captured on film by Sakamoto’s son Neo Sora, traverses the composer’s entire catalog, from his YMO days to his renowned scores for films like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, and The Last Emperor.
Ahead of Opus’ August 9 release, Milan Records has shared “Tong Poo,” one of a handful of new or never-before-released recordings from the concert. The track itself is a radically reimagined rendition of the track “Tong Poo” that appeared on YMO’s 1978 self-titled debut album.
Other new tracks include “For Johann,” a tribute to the late composer Johann Johannsson, and “BB,” penned for The Last Emperor director Bernardo Bertolucci.
Additionally, Neo Sora’s cinematic component of Opus will stream exclusively on The Criterion Collection beginning this weekend, July 1.
“The project 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. 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 previously said of Opus after recording the concert.
“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 afterward, 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, notably, also provided the playlist for his own funeral.)
