A Richer Dust, the epic First Symphony of the English composer Nigel Clarke (b. 1960), explores what it means to live with violence and extremism, the constant companions of human history. The work intertwines words collated from a wide range of sources by the writer Malene Sheppard Skærved with Clarke’s music, weaving together ideas and images in fragments of text from both historically significant figures and voiceless, ordinary people. The dark and powerful atmosphere of the Symphony is prefaced by the bright and sassy sound of Clarke’s Magritte-inspired Mysteries of the Horizon, a concerto for cornet and wind orchestra.