The Portrait of A Boy / портрет мальчика (Horizont / горизонт, 1989)

Back to one of the best Russian acts ever, this suite in three movements fills the A-side of the original LP released in 1989 and bearing the same title. It's an interesting, uncompromising piece of music including contemporary classical elements, avant-garde electronic passages, tricky improvisations and, of course, a symphonic rock structure. The King Crimson inspiration is expecially strong during the first movement, but these musicians have their own musical point of view, based on fluid keyboards, stingy guitars and a highly creative rythm section.

"The Portrait of A Boy" was the second and final album by Horizont.

Even if they follow a rather experimental path, they never neglect the melodic side of their work and this suite features a good deal of well found themes and beautiful riffs during the first movement. The most stunning moments here are provided by Igor Pokrovsky's guitar interplays with Sergey Kornilov's and Andrey Krivilev's keyboards, but some of you (the most adventurous listeners, I daresay) will love the fully experimental second movement and its mysterious, spacey effects or the devilish improvised-like final section. I do think the entire track is still daring and original today as it was in the late'80s.

Snowballs (Horizont / Горизонт, 1985)

The first Horizont's album actually is a prog gem and definitely can be considered as one of the best fruits of Russian prog. It only includes three long tracks and this is the opening one, called "Snowballs". That's an excellent example of what we used to call descriptive music, so that you can actually see a snowball battle going on and an enchanted, wintery landscape all around.

Horizont in concert during the '70s.

Ranging from symphonic to electronic arrangements, this instrumental track includes effective choral harmonies and some beautiful guitar / piano interplays. It's a puzzling mix of Yes and Kraftwerk, Focus and Magma... in short, it's Horizont themselves. I don't know how it will seem like to you, but I bet you won't be bored at all!

Summer in Town (Horizont / Горизонт, 1985)

Be prepared to meet one of the strangest and most fascinating suites in the strange and fascinating world of underground prog. This Russian band was born in the late '70s, but they released their two albums during the '80s, leaded by composer and keyboardist Sergey Komilov. This is the title track of the fiorst one, divided into three movements: March, Minuet and Toccata. As those sub-titles may suggest, the classical influence is very strong on Horizont's music, but it's not the only one.

Unfortunately, Horizont disbanded in the late '80s.

These musicians also like to experiment, to amaze their listeners, including unpredictable solutions in their compositions and many avant-garde sounds. You'll find here - I mean it - both Genesis and Magma, both symphonic rock and krautrock. The final result may be puzzling, but it isn't unpleasant, after all, as Horizont don't like elitarian music and always try to communicate emotions. Well, you wouldn't have find this song here, had they acted otherwise.