Bang on a Can x Ryuichi Sakamoto (1996)

Perhaps it was the occasion of the 30th anniversary, but for whatever reason, today Bang on a Can uploaded nine videos from 1996 of its All-Stars collective playing the music of the late Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, those following a previous two over the past week. There is much to revisit, notably film music, including themes from Pedro Almodóvar’s 1991 High Heels, of course Nagisa Ōshima’s 1983 classic Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, in which Sakamoto starred alongside David Bowie, and Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1990 The Sheltering Sky. Here is a lush piece from Peter Kosminsky’s 1992 Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, featuring, among others, Lizzie Burns (bass), Vicky Chow (piano), David Cossin (percussion), Arlen Hlusko (cello), Ken Thomson (clarinets), and Taylor Levine, on a soaring electric guitar part.