This was the image posted on Ryuichi Sakamoto‘s Twitter account earlier today, confirming the sad news many had been dreading – the Japanese composer and instrumentalist had sadly died of cancer, aged 71.

Sakamoto’s career began in the Yellow Magic Orchestra, whose drummer Yukihiro Takahashi passed away only three months previously. He then went on to a long and illustrious career that included numerous memorable collaborations, solo albums and film scores.

Yet a single tribute would seem to sum him up best at this point, before a full appreciation. Here is the composer himself at the piano, playing one of his most enduring and emotional pieces: