ryuichi sakamoto album piano and string trio

When did Iñárritu initially get in touch? Ryuichi, the project started with you – with Carsten and then also Bryce later called upon. To that end, I caught up with long-time collaborators Ryuichi Sakamoto and Carsten Nicolai (Alva Noto) to learn about how the soundtrack was made. It might have been released in January but this is set to be score of the year (yes, even better than Ennio’s return to the genre) the shared credit should be celebrated, not rejected. And yet, because Sakamoto layered his work with that of the other composers, the soundtrack is ineligible to compete as per the Academy rules.Īs I said earlier in the year, fuck the rules. Following last year’s success with the equally audio-visual Birdman, wayward auteur Iñárritu is expected to sweep up again. With a grand total of twelve nominations at this year’s awards, the icy and painfully visceral Western has been lauded as a sensory marvel, a hypnotic entwining of moving image and sound.

Shot with signature unbroken takes, entirely in natural light in the remote wilds of sub-zero Canada, Iñárritu’s crew were put through an endurance test (almost) on par with the one faced by Leonardo Di Caprio – who might finally snatch an Oscar. A unique patchwork of orchestral and electronic visual sounds, their modulated cues play the voice of nature in Iñárritu’s harrowing hymn to the natural world. Led by Sakamoto, this is the super-trio behind The Revenant‘s heart-pounding score. He goes on to describe Carsten Nicolai’s electronic universe as one that eludes definition and characterises The National’s Bryce Desnner as a “more crazy original and delicious guacamole than I could ever dream of”.

“Ryuichi’s music soul has impregnated The Revenant and the film breathes between his notes and nature sounds and silences,” writes Mexican director Alejandro Iñárritu in the soundtrack’s liner notes. Ryuichi Sakamoto of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame and Carsten Nicolai (Alva Noto) speak to Amar Ediriwira about their score for Oscar-tipped frontier saga The Revenant.

Ryuichi sakamoto album piano and string trio