Junkan (2020) by Michiko Ogawa

Junkan (2020), written for octet, from the extraordinary Berlin-based clarinetist and composer, Michiko Ogawa. Two versions.

Michiko Ogawa (Michiko O) is a performer-composer specialising in the clarinet, born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. She performs classical repertoire in addition to contemporary and experimental musics, including free improvisation and film soundtrack work.

"Occasionally, in the courtyard of the apartment block where I live, a high pitched A# and B can be heard. I first noticed this during the monotony of daily routine in early 2020, when I spent some time listening to the ambient sounds of our apartment block. Something about this interval emerging from our courtyard struck me as novel, out of the ordinary. Over time I began to extrapolate harmonies to go with it, focussing particularly on clarinet spectra, and the piece on this record features seven harmonies developed in this way. The nervous beating created by these sounds, heard during the quiet moments of my daily life, held a certain anxiety or tension, seeming to suggest the uncertainty of the days ahead. The basic structure of this piece is a kind of energy that keeps changing and circulating day by day in an endless loop, with a latent wish for some kind of fundamental purification process." ~ Michiko O

https://www.michikoogawa.com/

https://michikoogawa.bandcamp.com/

Marginal Frequency is a small batch record label operating in Kitsap County, WA.