Customer Reviews

Alexei and the Spring

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Whether it's his work in rock, experimental, orchestral or jazz forms I've always tended to prefer the interior quiet Ryuichi Sakamoto is able to create. The music of this soundtrack is of the sort that must by now come easily to Sakamoto, like breathing. There is nothing forced or artificial, no contortions, nothing extraneous. The pieces tend to do without any but the most subtle key changes and all avoid the telegraphic warnings and alarms of more traditional cadences, deciding in favor of simply letting things come to a stop.

The ensemble of instruments is small and intimate, offering a chamber feel. Piano is the favorite, along with a 'cello solo and some kalimba-like tuned percussion, a few synth thonks and some lush pads. Rarely are there more than three voices working at once, a constraint that encourages a quiet and graceful clarity.

With a complete lack of affectation and a devotion to delicacy, some pieces come strikingly close to aspects of Eno's much earlier "Music for Films". (Especially the "Sparrowfall" variations from the first "Music for Films" installment). There are also some traces of Harold Budd here and there among the 16 mostly brief tracks. Far less sentimental than Budd and infinitely less naive than Eno, each piece here is masterfully and purposefully understated.

truely a most beautiful soundtrack..being a big fan of sakamoto's from way back i have always found his soundtracks intriguing and worth listening to..this is by far the most delicate..at tims haunting and beautiful of all of the ones i have heard.. Not having seen the movie that this goes with.only one's imagination is there to fill in the sound images..The music is graceful..extremely melodic, nuanced and subtle...it flows from start to end..always a master of the catchy melody.Sakamoto has composed truely a wonderful work of music here.