"[1] The work is scored for a solo cello and an orchestra comprising two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, percussion, and strings.
[1] Reviewing the world premiere, Larry Fuchsberg of the Star Tribune opined, "Towards the Horizon' won't enjoy the popularity of Rautavaara's Seventh Symphony or his Cantus Arcticus.
"[4] Hilary Finch of BBC Music Magazine similarly observed, "Truls Mørk's free and graceful flights of endlessly varying and regenerating melody come after a powerful pentatonic opening theme, almost Sibelian in strength.
"[5] Guy Rickards of Gramophone further remarked:The near-unbroken line of the cello part, which sings almost without pause, it seems, helps to make the main set of variations in the central span a seamless entity.
Given the valedictory nature of the music, the magical close fading out high into the air like a modern retake on The Lark Ascending, there is a temptation to see in this work the composer's direct contemplation of the infinite – his equivalent perhaps of Shostakovich's late quartets, but decidedly more positive and serene in expression (yet unblinkingly clear).