A painful listen this – literally, as you hear Sakamoto’s laboured breathing as he plays piano on this posthumously-released album, filmed and recorded by his son – but a beautiful one. The maestro’s relationship with the piano was a close and intimate one over his lengthy career: the instrument was often present even in his most electronic works, he frequently incorporated motifs from Bach, Debussy, Satie and more which he’d absorbed through the muscle memory of playing them, and he never stopped exploring the possibilities of the instrument whether through extended technique, electronic processing or simply very personal touch on the keys. He also often revisited his own catalogue on solo piano records over the years: so this was him doing what he’d done from the start right to the very end.