Ryuichi Sakamoto,, the Japanese-born, New York-based pianist, producer, film score composer, and electronic music pioneer is also a citizen of the world, and his travels to Greenland’s ice fields to study the effects of climate change can be felt in his latest work, sometimes literally.  Sakamoto captured sounds in disparate locations such as under the sea and on top of a glacier to create the minimal ambient works that make up part of his double CD, "Playing the Piano/Out of Noise." (Both CDs were released separately in Japan in 2009.)

Also, listen for Sakamoto’s solo piano arrangements of his own cinematic music, including themes from “The Sheltering Sky” and “The Last Emperor.”  He joins John Schaefer for this New Sounds to talk about his writing process for some of his well-known film scores, his plan to turn around the carbon footprint that he will make on tour by his founding the organization More Trees, and they open the Pandora’s box by questioning when noise becomes music…

PROGRAM #3121,  with Ryuichi Sakamoto   (First aired on 9/28/2010)