Michiko Ogawa — Junkan (2020) (Marginal Frequency)
Junkan (2020) by Michiko Ogawa
Junkan (2020) is the second album by Michiko Ogawa, a clarinetist, composer and researcher who is currently based in Berlin. She moved to Berlin following significant activity in Japan, where she played with Taku Sigimoto; the USA, where she earned a doctorate at University of California-San Diego; and Australia, where she presented work derived from her research into the life and music of Teiji Ito.
It was in Berlin that Junkan (2020) took shape. When the city went on lockdown at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she found herself with a plenty of opportunity to listen to her environment. Two pitches, A# and B, emerged from the sounds of her apartment block. Over time, she imagined harmonies that could work with or against them, and the composition was born. Near the year’s end, just as Omicron showed up to ruin everyone’s holidays, bass clarinetist Sam Dunscombe recorded two versions of the piece, each lasting a bit over half an hour. Both were performed by an octet comprising a who’s who of microtonally aware musicians from Berlin. Dunscombe, Ogawa, guitarist Fredrik Rasten, flautist Rebecca Lane, and string players Sarah Saviet, Catherine Lamb, Lucy Railton and Jonathan Helbron played on both editions, and then the two clarinetists overdubbed eight additional passes over the second.