Regards sur l'Horizon - Three Visions for Piano

On the Thread Between Dusk and Dawn Three Visions for Piano — On the Thread Between Dusk and Dawn A visionary avant-garde triptych for solo piano, "Regards sur l’Horizon" weaves ancient Egyptian cosmology into a contemporary classical soundscape. From twilight’s scarlet breath to the silver nets of the moon, each movement explores the eternal cycle of transformation, rebirth, and divine harmony.

Ritual Structure:

1. Vision I — Le Souffle Écarlate: An Ode to the Lady of Dendérah
A work steeped in the sacred traditions of ancient Egypt, this visionary piece pays homage to Hathor, goddess of light, love, and transformation. Through spiritual contemplation, cosmic symbolism, and profound wisdom, Sherif Dahroug’s composition invites us to witness a journey of dusk-bound transfiguration.
2. Vision II — Sur le Fil de l’Aube: A Journey Between Worlds
At its core lies the eternal human impulse to walk the line between known and unknown, between yesterday and tomorrow. This figure—the mediator standing at the convergence of opposites, holding the moment steady—becomes a symbol of us all, listening at the edge of the sacred. “Sur le Fil de l’Aube” (On the Thread of the Dawn) is a deeply spiritual exploration of the liminal space between night and day, mortal and divine. At its core is the image of the ancient Egyptian temple—a cradle of light where the god Ra is reborn each morning. This temple is not only physical but symbolic: a place of emergence, of invocation, and of cosmic renewal. In Egyptian cosmology, dawn is a sacred threshold. It marks Ra’s daily transformation from the hidden Atum to the radiant sun disk, a moment of divine emergence. Dahroug’s music follows this sacred arc—from darkness and uncertainty to the first breath of light—a sonic mirror to creation itself. The music becomes a temple, a site of worship and awakening, where the listener participates in the sacred rites of morning.
3. Vision III — Pêcheur aux filets d'argent: Fisherman with Silver Nets
The French label Lyre de Mercure proudly presents the final movement of Sherif Dahroug’s triptych Regards sur l’Horizon. Following Le Souffle Écarlate and Sur le Fil de l’Aube, this closing piece—Pêcheur aux filets d’argent(Fisherman with Silver Nets)—invites the listener into a vast, lunar seascape of sound and symbolism. Dedicated to Thoth, the enigmatic deity of wisdom, time, and the moon, this composition is both a mystical exploration of the divine and a sonic meditation on the invisible threads that connect soul, cosmos, and resurrection.
In ancient Egyptian cosmology, Thoth is often remembered as the scribe of the gods, keeper of knowledge and divine order. But in Fisherman with Silver Nets, he appears in a more arcane form—as a lunar fisherman, casting nets woven from moonlight into the waters of the beyond. These are no ordinary nets. Forged from the silver essence of the moon, they are instruments of cosmic restoration—tools with which Thoth gathers the lost fragments of Osiris, the dismembered god of life, death, and regeneration. In Dahroug’s composition, every phrase evokes this tireless celestial labour: the divine act of retrieval, weaving together time, spirit, and silence.
The sonic world of Fisherman with Silver Nets opens like a slow tide—vast, immersive, unbound by earthly time. It evokes the ancient vision of the cosmos as an infinite ocean, traversed by sacred barques. Each note is a ripple in the celestial current, each harmony a net cast into the void. Within this ocean, Thoth navigates in search of soul-essence, seeking the subtle glimmers of Osirian light hidden in the shadows of the dark moon. This is not a journey of conquest but of redemption—a return, a reclamation. Every silver filament that touches the deep becomes a channel between the mortal and divine, life and death, silence and song. Lunar Cycles and the Resurrection of Osiris In Egyptian myth, the moon is the domain of Osiris, lord of the afterlife. His cyclical death and resurrection are mirrored in the lunar phases, especially the waning and dark moon, when his body is scattered and submerged in shadow. Each night, Thoth boards the sacred barque to recover what has been lost. His silver nets sweep the cosmic ocean, gathering the forgotten, the broken, the hidden. The moon’s waxing becomes a symbol of reunion, and with it, a return of order, clarity, and light. Dahroug’s music makes this mythology tangible. In its shimmering timbres and contemplative rhythms, the listener feels the pulse of the moon, the passage through darkness, and the eventual surfacing of soul.
In Fisherman with Silver Nets, music becomes the very net of Thoth: a silver filament stretched across the cosmos, capturing glints of the eternal and weaving them into patterns of harmony. Each note is a soul-fragment restored, a prayer cast into the waters, a breath returned to the infinite. Through this work, Sherif Dahroug affirms the transformative power of music—not just as expression, but as a sacred act, capable of stitching the fabric of creation back together. It is a moving tribute to the hidden forces that shape existence—and to the artist’s own role as seeker, scribe, and silent fisherman of light.