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Horizont - The Portrait Of A Boy CD (album) cover

THE PORTRAIT OF A BOY

Horizont

Symphonic Prog


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Greger
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Originally released back in 1989, the Russian band HORIZONT's second album "The Portrait of a Boy" had a slightly different approach then their debut album "Summer In Town". This album is more avant-garde and complex than their first album. "The Portrait of a Boy" was originally released in 1989 on the Russian Melodiya label. Now it has been re-released on CD, thanks to the Boheme Music label. - Their music is a delicate mix between art-rock, progressive rock and RIO (Rock In Opposition). The opening 20-minute title track is one of the highlights on this album, although the opening track "Snowballs" from the debut album were slightly better. While "Summer In Town" has more in common with EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, GENESIS and YES, "The Portrait of a Boy" is closer to KING CRIMSON, PRESENT and the RIO genre. I guess that's why I prefer "Summer In Town" before "The Portrait of a Boy". Don't get me wrong, I really like this album too. But although I love KING CRIMSON, I have always liked E.L.P., GENESIS and YES a lot more, and that comparison goes for the differences between these albums too. This album is more hard-edged, heavier, outrageous and harder to get into than the debut. This is however a really strong album from one of the most interesting bands ever from this corner of the world. Recommended!
Report this review (#28596)
Posted Thursday, March 4, 2004 | Review Permalink
Steve Hegede
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars HORIZONT released their second, and last, album in 1989. By this time, their symphonic-prog influences had all but vanished in favor of an avant-garde sound. Side A features the 20-minute epic "Portrait Of A Boy", while side B consists of shorter compositions. Without a doubt "Portrait Of A Boy" is one of the weirdest pieces of prog-related music that I've heard so far. It starts off with a 3-note bass line that is repeated for about 5-minutes or so. The guitarist and keyboardist begin to pick up momentum by playing endless melodies, in unison, that slowly gain in intensity (ala ZAPPA). This then leads into a weird section of avant-garde keyboard experimentation before the band continues into a complex jam. Overall, this epic would please prog fans who enjoy avant-garde, and RIO. The shorter pieces on the second side remind of the second side of CARPE DIEM's "Cueille Le Jour". Althought the music is pleasant, the band seemed to have been in a hurry to finish the album. If you're interested in HORIZONT, I recommend getting "Summer In Town" first. If you end up enjoying that release, or if you're into avant-prog/RIO, then "Portrait Of A Boy" is an interesting album to add to your collection.
Report this review (#28597)
Posted Sunday, March 21, 2004 | Review Permalink
Prognut
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars I personally like this one better than their first; mainly because sound more complex...and, I like complexity in my music!!. There are still symphonic elements, but they manifest less. The epic piece is a mix bag of RIO-Classic-Symphonic music and is the centerpiece of the album and the best anyway.

Again!. Overall too short, and now shorter tunes...they were probably exiting the prog scene.

My same recommendation for casual Prog-Music listeners...This one may not appeal to you, but is a CD that sits really well on my Classic-RIO-Symphonic section of my collection...

Report this review (#28598)
Posted Monday, May 31, 2004 | Review Permalink
Progbear
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars The second Gorizont/Horizont album is, if anything, even MORE bizarre than the first. If you thought the "Summer In Town" suite was strange, wait till you hear "Portrait Of A Boy"! The band had acquired digital synthesizers in the interim, and clearly have spent many an hour programming them to coax the most harsh, raucous and frightening tones they could dream up. No instantly recognizable DX7 presets here! The lengthy title suite sounds for all the world like a tape recording of a symphony where the tape has been stretched, run over, and generally perverted to the point where it sounds like a grotesque fun-house mirror version of orchestral music.

The rest of the music isn't nearly that outré, but it does carry on the band's vision of "avant-sympho" quite well, with the pieces containing the right amount of dark dread to keep the listener's interest. For sure, everything I said about their first album goes double for this one-don't get it unless you know what you're in for! But if you're up for this, what a ride!

Report this review (#46375)
Posted Monday, September 12, 2005 | Review Permalink
daveconn
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars And the alien organism, a mix of metal and bruised flesh, sent its tendrils into the surrounding forest, sampling this world for the last time in an orgiastic feast. In a strand of silent trees, one tendril comes back with a report of natural dignity ("Prelude Fis Moll"). Another tendril, wafting in the black waters of an ancient tarn, detects a new world of colors in the black inkiness of its depths ("The Final of the Ballet 'Fahrenheit 451'"). A third encounters an inhospitiable and hungry creature in the barren sands ("Guy's Solo"). Welcome to the world of Horizont. Their second (and final) disc picks up where the side-long "Summer In Town" left off, making good on the promise of modern (i.e., "digital") classical music implicit in Zappa works like Orchestral Favorites and Jazz From Hell. Though billed as a "chamber instrumental ensemble," Horizont clearly has more in common with progressive rock composers like Zappa, Steve Hackett (okay, maybe you never thought of him as a composer) and Keith Emerson. The title suite, for example, would clearly be comfortable in Hackett's extreme climates (though Ozric Tentacles and Univers Zero are the reference points given in the disc's liner notes), while the closing "Vocalise" will remind many of Yes at their more ethereal (e.g., "Soon"). What this organism is doing in Russia I'll never understand, but it clearly struggled for nourishment. Horizont would have found plenty to sustain it in England, Brazil or Italy, but by the time I'd even heard of them (2004), Horizont had long disappeared from the horizon. This and their first disc are not only worth rediscovering but worth championing as neo-prog necromancy. If you enjoy Zappa, Steve Hackett or (what the heck) Ozric Tentacles, this Portrait belongs in your collection.
Report this review (#47564)
Posted Tuesday, September 20, 2005 | Review Permalink
historian9
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Retired Admin
5 stars HORIZONT's "The Portrait Of A Boy" is an amazing fusion of avantgarde and symphonic arrangements, while I didn't expect much after listening their debut which I found too common and cheesy, this one is refreshing and overwhelming. If the debut album had more of the ELP mood, then you could say this one is more of "Inferno" feeling by KEITH EMERSON and some KING CRIMSON in the mix, especially in the title track where I find the guitars most dominating as with great sound of modern synths and other weird electronic experimentation. It is dark at times and I did think of EMERSON's "Inferno" because of the feeling of horror soundtrack, but this is in no way background music, and as the album progresses, songs do get lighter in mood with more classical feeling; the finishing track "Vocalise" being very much in the grand feeling of YES circa "Close To The Edge". Recommended to people who might be bored of classical symphonic rock and are looking for something with a darker edge.
Report this review (#636063)
Posted Sunday, February 19, 2012 | Review Permalink
b_olariu
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars 3,5 really

Horizont from Russia ( USSR back then) was one of the top bands from this country in prog rock movement in the '80s and I think one of the most intresting from that decade in easter Europe. They released two albums , first in 1985 who was a quite grea symphonic prog albumt, an ELP, Yes, Genesis inspired release, the second offer named The portrait of a boy was released in 1989 and has a darker music and a this time the band is closer to King Crimson or Universe Zero or even with Outer Limits from Japan. The music is complex with nice intstrumental sections, the opening The Portrait Of A Boy, Suite In 3 Movements is excellent, showing how mature was the band from this second album. Nice choruses and the guitar is impressive. The rest of the pieces are also great. The dark atmosphere who remind me a lot of King Crimson in theor glory years, is fiting perfectly in the songwritting. The flute and keyboards add a new dimension to Horizon's dark chapter. Sadly both albums are quite unknown , and quite hard to find, but I think worth to be investigated for any fan of prog rock music. 3 solid stars, maybe 3,5 in places.

Report this review (#1265587)
Posted Monday, September 1, 2014 | Review Permalink

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