`Mysteries of the Horizon´ is written and dedicated to the Belgian cornet virtuoso Harmen Vanhoorne. The subject material for my concerto are four surrealist paintings by the Belgian  artist René Magritte (1898 – 1967). The movements  are named after four of his paintings with the following titles:  1. The Menaced Assassin, 2. The Dominion of Light, 3. The Flavour of Lights, 4.The Discovery of Fire

Harmen Vanhoorne

As part of my research I visited the Magritte Museum in Brussels to absorb myself in his work. `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 movements and 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. I would like to thank Harmen Vanhoorne for his help and enthusiasm in writing this concerto. Nigel plans to transcribe the work in the future for Symphonic Wind Orchestra as well as Symphony Orchestra.

See article about Nigel’s new Concert Concerto `Mysteries of the Horizon’