The agile Sakamoto draws on an eclectic background to make this work of solo piano pieces worthy of serious listening, not just aural wallpaper for wine-and-cheese parties. A piano prodigy and student of classical Eastern music, Sakamoto had a brief fling as a Japanese rock star in the 1980s and dabbled in jazz before turning to Hollywood (where his sublime score for The Last Emperor brought him an Oscar). Like all his work, BTTB ("Back to the Basics") searches for common ground in classical, pop and Eastern music. More often than not in this CD of unaccustomed beauty, he finds it....
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