REVIEWS
MICHIKO OGAWA - JUNKAN (2020) (MARGINAL FREQUENCY, 2022)
SELECTED ONE OF THE "THE BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL ON BANDCAMP 2022"
"One can detect an almost emotional character to the beautiful shifts, which glide from dark turbulence to sunny ecstasy, but the real action happens within the ensemble output, where endless beating patterns and lush harmonies well up and release in altering combinations. "
BY PETER MARGASAK, SEPTEMBER 28, 2022
"Harmonies begin on a bed of sonorous bass. Amass and ebb their sustained soundings cooperatively. Quickly finding quavering beating. Criss-crossing movements and waves’ tremulousness summon tension. Suspension amongst them as they all alternately buoy the harmony. Gutturally deep oms and singing celestial. Cyclical in revolving dynamics, seemingly iterative structures, and shifting harmonic constellations. Combinations for moments of euphonious elation and consonant frisson.
The second version feels similar. Structurally silences are a little longer. Texturally a saturation of odd harmonics lends a warm distortion to its glow and its overtones chirp more than sing. I originally mistook the second version for the wind trio with a synthesizer and assumed a doubling effect for octet. I might need to get my ears checked and assess any biases around performance readiness but I also think this speaks to the manifold faces of clarinet, whose character is the basis of the octet. "
BY KEITH PROSK,OCTOBER 1,2022
"Despite being inspired by the aural ambience of city living, this music brings to mind human-free, vistas. As its long tones coalesce and diverge, overtones ripple like a canopy of leafy foliage seen from above as it bends and shakes under the influence of gusting breezes. Just as one might look for patterns in the leaves, Junkan (2020) invites the listener to find whatever order or disorder they seek in the crosshatching and convergence of slowly bowed strings and patiently blown woodwinds. Attend to both performances back-to-back and the thickening textures induced by the second edition’s extra clarinets will conspire with your pattern-seeking brain layers of perception that disappear into each other like the infinite reflections of two mirrors facing each other in a dimly lit room."
BY BILL MEYER, OCTOBER 1,2022
MICHIKO OGAWA - JUNKAN (2020) (MARGINAL FREQUENCY, 2022)
SELECTED ONE OF THE "THE BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL ON BANDCAMP 2022"
"One can detect an almost emotional character to the beautiful shifts, which glide from dark turbulence to sunny ecstasy, but the real action happens within the ensemble output, where endless beating patterns and lush harmonies well up and release in altering combinations. "
BY PETER MARGASAK, SEPTEMBER 28, 2022
"Harmonies begin on a bed of sonorous bass. Amass and ebb their sustained soundings cooperatively. Quickly finding quavering beating. Criss-crossing movements and waves’ tremulousness summon tension. Suspension amongst them as they all alternately buoy the harmony. Gutturally deep oms and singing celestial. Cyclical in revolving dynamics, seemingly iterative structures, and shifting harmonic constellations. Combinations for moments of euphonious elation and consonant frisson.
The second version feels similar. Structurally silences are a little longer. Texturally a saturation of odd harmonics lends a warm distortion to its glow and its overtones chirp more than sing. I originally mistook the second version for the wind trio with a synthesizer and assumed a doubling effect for octet. I might need to get my ears checked and assess any biases around performance readiness but I also think this speaks to the manifold faces of clarinet, whose character is the basis of the octet. "
BY KEITH PROSK,OCTOBER 1,2022
"Despite being inspired by the aural ambience of city living, this music brings to mind human-free, vistas. As its long tones coalesce and diverge, overtones ripple like a canopy of leafy foliage seen from above as it bends and shakes under the influence of gusting breezes. Just as one might look for patterns in the leaves, Junkan (2020) invites the listener to find whatever order or disorder they seek in the crosshatching and convergence of slowly bowed strings and patiently blown woodwinds. Attend to both performances back-to-back and the thickening textures induced by the second edition’s extra clarinets will conspire with your pattern-seeking brain layers of perception that disappear into each other like the infinite reflections of two mirrors facing each other in a dimly lit room."
BY BILL MEYER, OCTOBER 1,2022