Sakamoto approaches them as a soundtrack composer, seeking definite, static moods and relying on convention and pastiche. ''Untitled 01'' has four movements: ''Grief,'' ''Anger,'' ''Prayer'' and ''Salvation.'' Mr. While philosophers have argued for centuries about the connection between music and emotion, soundtrack composers are pragmatic: minor chords mean sadness, dissonance means tension, slow tempos mean seriousness. Together, they made eerie, throbbing, ambient music, drawing on contemporary classical pieces, African traditional music and plainsong. For the first half-hour at the Winter Garden, he played disk jockey alongside D.
Sakamoto is a dedicated internationalist and genre-mixer with a trendy streak. Sakamoto emerged in 1978 with the Yellow Magic Orchestra, Japan's answer to the electronic pop of Kraftwerk since it broke up, he has worked with a remarkable list of collaborators, from David Byrne to Youssou N'Dour to Brian Wilson to Iggy Pop.
It is the latest effort by a composer who moves easily between soundtracks (including an Oscar-winning one for ''The Last Emperor'') and music meant to be heard on its own. Sakamoto's new album, ''Discord'' (Sony Classical).
But the ensemble onstage - a small orchestra augmented with piano, electric guitar and a disk jockey - was playing elegiac music by Ryuichi Sakamoto: the American premiere of ''Untitled 01,'' which fills Mr. Spotlights twirled and sometimes raked across the audience. Geometric shapes flickered and moired across a giant screen above the stage in the World Financial Center's Winter Garden on Wednesday night.
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