Horizon Line (Album)

Out June 12, 2026

 

For media inquiries and interview requests, please contact:
David Stevens, (857) 245-5213, Abstraction.MusicGroup@gmail.com

Tracks

  1. Continuous Interior: I. Flickering, light [05:45]

  2. Continuous Interior: II. Languid, dreamy [05:36]

  3. Continuous Interior: III. Urgent, breathless [05:45]

  4. The Great Marsh: 1. Salt Hay [05:25]

  5. The Great Marsh: 2. Mudflats [03:56]

  6. The Great Marsh: 3. Seaside Sparrow [02:03]

  7. The Great Marsh: 4. Estuary [07:36]

  8. Arctic: I. Midnight Sun [03:07]

  9. Arctic: II. Polar Night [13:56]

Length: 53:09

Credits

Tracks 1-3
Performed by Abby Fisher and Bergamot Quartet (Ledah Finck, Sarah Thomas, Amy Tan, Irene Han)
Recorded June 25, 2023
Bunker Studio
Brooklyn, NY
Tracking, Editing, Mixing by Mike Tierney 

Tracks 4-7
Performed by Jacques Lee Wood, Alyssa Wang, Beste Tiknaz Modiri, and Kiyoshi Hayashi
Recorded January 15, 2025
Futura Recordings
Boston, MA
Tracking, Editing, Mixing by Mike Tierney

Tracks 9-10
Performed by Mivos Quartet (Olivia De Prato, Joshua Modney, Victor Lowrie, Mariel Roberts)
Recorded June 13, 2015 
Oktaven Audio
Yonkers, NY

Tracking, Editing, Mixing by Ryan Streber 
Tracks 1-7 Produced by Mike Tierney and Robert Honstein
Tracks 9-10 Produced by Ryan Streber and Robert Honstein

Album design and artwork by Laura Grey
Liner Notes by Robert Honstein
Ⓟ & ⓒ 2026 Robert Honstein, All Rights Reserved

Composer Robert Honstein releases “Horizon Line” - June 12 (New Focus Recordings)

featuring music with string quartets

BOSTON, MA (April 6, 2026) – Horizon Line, an album of music by Robert Honstein, features three compositions exploring landscapes and the pastoral - in nature, visual art, and urban space. The “horizon line” orients perspective and by implication, how we situate ourselves and derive meaning from the world around us. A conceptual through-line and a linear melodic line that carries through the album.

Within these landscapes, a common theme emerges – that of the “pastoral,” as a way of searching and being. The eponymous Great Marsh Reservation, the inspiration for the central work, comprises 25,500 acres of barrier beach, dunes, saltmarsh, and water bodies, is situated on the North Shore of Massachusetts; reflectively, the classical concept of pastoral is front-and-center in the music, evoking yearnings for connection to the natural expanse. Arctic, influenced by the artist Chris McCaw’s Sunburn series, approaches the sublime, where the human perspective is overcome by the brutality of nature. Continuous Interior attempts to reconcile the pastoral with interior modern expanse, beauty and meaning through contemporary experience.

Featuring three works that span a decade of the composer's career, the instrumental throughline of the album could be the String Quartet itself, representing a culmination of Honstein’s long engagement with the genre. Arctic was recorded in 2013 by Mivos Quartet, longtime collaborators of the composer, while Continuous Interior features the youthful Bergamot Quartet with percussionist Abby Fisher. The Great Marsh features New England artists who performed the work in the iconic coastal-adjacent Rockport Music-Shalin Liu Performance Center.

About Robert Honstein, composer

Celebrated for his “waves of colorful sounds” (New York Times) and “smart, appealing works” (The New Yorker), Robert Honstein (b. 1980) is a New York-based composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, and film music. Recent accolades include the 2023 Andrew Imbrie Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters and a 2022 Emmy-nomination for his debut film score The Real Charlie Chaplin.

Ensembles and performers of Robert’s music include the Albany Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique du Mulhouse, Eighth Blackbird, Ensemble Dal Niente, Mivos Quartet, Del Sol Quartet, Argus Quartet, TIGUE, New Morse Code, Colin Currie, Theo Bleckmann, Doug Perkins, Michael Burritt, Karl Larson, Ashley Bathgate, among others. Interdisciplinary collaborators include choreographer Omar Román De Jesús, photographer Chris McCaw, projection designer Hannash Wasileski, graphic designer Laura Grey, and director Daniel Fish. His music has also been programmed by numerous dance companies including the National Ballet of Canada (Alysa Pires, choreographer), Ballet Collective (Omar Román De Jesús, choreographer), and the Alberta, Cincinnati, and Orlando Ballets. His music has been released by New Focus Records, Soundspells Productions, Cedille Records, and New Amsterdam Records, as well as his independent label Up in the Attic Records. 

As an educator Robert has taught composition seminars and workshops around the country and is Program Director of Concert Composition and Composition Faculty at NYU, Steinhardt. For more information, visit roberthonstein.com