Isao Tomita got his start creating soundtracks for early anime series, but when it came time for his own work he went the same route as fellow composer Wendy Carlos: combining the past (classical) and the future (Moog synthesizers). His second album reinterprets Claude Debussy’s “tone paintings” using a dizzying array of technological techniques. Clips from “Arabesque No. 1” and “Clair De Lune” have been used by sources as diverse as a 70s PBS astronomy show and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but the record as a whole stages a spectacular wintertime ballet.

– Jeff Treppel