Mysteries of the Horizon (After Four Rene Magritte Surrealist Paintings)
A Concerto for Trumpet and Wind Orchestra
Mysteries of the Horizon is written and dedicated to Harmen Vanhoorne, and Matthew J George and the University of St Thomas Wind Ensemble.
The subject material for my concerto are four surrealist paintings by the Belgian artist Rene Magritte (1898-1967). The movements are named after four of his paintings with the following titles:
- The Menaced Assassin
- The Dominion of Light
- The Flavour of Lights
- The Discovery of Fire
As part of my research I visited the Magritte Museum in Brussels to absorb myself in his works. Mysteries of the Horizon is not programmatic, but I have tried to colour each movement with the atmosphere of each Magritte painting. The work is unusual in that there are four movement, not the standard three. The second movement, The Dominion of Light, acts as a light relief between the first and third movements. The concerto gives much opportunity to the soloist to demonstrate different aspects of the instrument.
- Nigel Clarke
