Harmen Vanhoorne’s debut solo album `Fortune’s Fool’ recorded with Brassband Buizingen, conducted by Luc Vertommen, is out September 1st! Nigel’s new concerto `Mysteries of the Horizon’ is featured on this new stunning album. Nigel’s unaccompanied solo work `Premonitions’ (originally commissioned by the 1990 Leggett Awards) is also featured by Harmen to stunning effect. Harmen was hailed British Open Solo Champion & Best Cornet 2010, International Soloist of the Year, Ern Keller Memorial (Australia) 2011 and more. Other composers featured on the disc are: Stan Nieuwenhuis, Dr Peter MeechanTom Davoren.

Harmen Vanhoorne describes Nigel’s new work:

“‘Mysteries of the Horizon’ is based upon four paintings by the Belgian artist René Margritte. This piece has everything that I was expecting for a Cornet Concerto. First of all it’s totally different than any other cornet music I’ve ever heard before but still it shows off all the qualities a cornet has to offer. It’s a real hard one this is, but I think this piece will be the level of playing for the years to come”. Harmen Vanhoorne

From Left to Right: Luc Vertommen, Nigel Clarke, Peter Meechan, Harmen Vanhoorne & Stan Nieuwenhuis

 

This new disc can be purchased from: World of Brass, 4barsrest and Midland CD

Mysteries of the Horizon (Extracts) from the four movements:

1. The Menaced Assassin 2. The Dominion of Light 3. the Flavour of Tears 4. The discovery of Tears


 

Premonitions (Extracts)
from the three movements:


 

PART OF A REVIEW BY PAUL HINDMARSH ON HARMEN VANHOORNE’S RECORDING OF `PREMONITIONS’ & `MYSTERIES OF THE HORIZON
(Critics Corner – The British Bandsman 14/09/12)

In Nigel Clarke’s Premonitions, the spotlight is thrown completely on the soloist, whose `prophetic’ fanfares’, as Clarke describes them, `reflect the direction’ in which the modern world is travelling.’ The subtlety of Harman’s playing – the way shades of expression are nuanced from snippets of fanfare and lyrical response – is of the highest class. In the best sense, he combines the forthright presence of the trumpet with the warmth of the cornet.

Premonitions acts as the ideal prelude to the most substantial work on the album – Mysteries of the Horizon, a 22 minute concerto in four movements, again by Nigel Clarke. During the time he has lived in Brussels, Clarke has built a strong artistic relationship with Brass Band Buizingen. Written especially to showcase the multi-facetted playing of Harmen Vanhoorne, the concerto takes as it’s expressive starting point four paintings by the Belgium surrealist, René Magritte (1898-1967). Clarke responds to the first, The Menaced Assassin, with music full of drama, edge and dissonance. Fanfares based on the devilish tritone dominate the scene. Rather like the much less flamboyant but equally demanding Sinfonia Concertante by Heaton, the soloist kept busy throughout. In The Dominion of Light, the transparency of the writing and the emphasis on high percussion and cornets, lifts the mood. In The Flavour of Tears, Harmen’s lyrical and rubato style  is emphasised. In the finale, The Discovery of Fire, the music spits fire in a relentless moto perpetuo. The soloist is spellbinding and the band so colourful and controlled.Below is a specially written poem by Martin Westlake to accompany

`Mysteries of the Horizon’

 

Mysteries of the Horizon 

Ceci n’est pas un poème:
For pictures are a meaning and
That truth is the mystery.

Please bleed away from our averted eyes,
Your silk-scarfed neck
Separating off the peaks our mountain echoes.
Hat, coat and case, blackjack and net
Wait for the music to end as night falls.
Listen; the sun shines tonight and the lamp
Casts shadows on our reflections.
After all, why should we choose between night and day?
Isn’t that the poetry?
So, let us taste the tears and
May all hairy caterpillars munch
On leafy birds and approaching war
As we consider the eternal truth
That a flaming tuba
Is hard to light and even more difficult to play.

Ceci n’est pas un poème:
For pictures are a meaning and
That truth is the mystery.