They are mostly themes from the films The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas Mr.

Lawrence, and The Sheltering Sky, with cues from others including Bolerish, from Brian DePalmas 2002 film Femme Fatale.

For the most part, it is a spare and lovely beauty of an album, with few surpises save for the elegance that Sakamoto performs these indelible pieces with.

In 2010, Decca Records in the U.S.

Out of Noise, recorded during 2009.

It, too, contains a dozen selections, all but one composed and recorded the year of release.

This disc is the real surpise in the specially packaged and priced set.

It concerns itself where music fades and enters into noise, and the no mans land where noise sorts itself out into a system recognized as music.

Unlike Playing the Piano, Out of Noise is a more challenging, yet more compelling listen.

While it begins with the poetic, atmospheric solo piano piece Hibari, as a coda to Disc 1, it quickly launches into Hwit and Still Life, both recorded with the U.K.-based viol ensemble Fretwork.

The ambient In the Red, with field-recorded voice samples, features guitarist Christian Fennesz.

In 2008, Sakamoto participated in the Cape Farewell Disko Bay Expedition to study and observe climate change; there he visited Greenlands fastest moving glacier.

Three of the pieces here -- Disko, Ice, and Glacier -- reflect the place where Sakamoto claims he left part of his soul.

Filskov, and Sklli Sverrisson, who plays dobro on the final one of these.

To Standford is a solo jazz piano piece, or rather has inside its grain, the beauty and ternderness of great jazz pianists from Bill Evans to Errol Garner to Kenny Drew.

Ultimately, its Out of Noise that makes the entire package worth buying for the first time, or purchasing Playing the Piano again.

Despite revealing already known dimensions of Sakamoto s musical persona, it also uncovers new ones.

Ryuichi Sakamoto Playing The Piano Rar