ARTURO MÁRQUEZ

In his music the contemporary Mexican composer Arturo Márquez enriches the modern musical language with Mexican folk song motifs and traditional dance rhythms. The composer’s name has become world-famous for his Danzón No. 2 (1994), especially after the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, one of the most famous conductors of our time, included the symphonic dance in the repertoire of its 2007 tour of Europe and the USA. The idea of writing Danzón No. 2 came about in 1993 during a trip to the Mexican town of Malinalco with the artist Andrés Fonseca and the dancer Irene Martínez. These two artists felt a special passion for the danzón, with which the composer got infected as well. “During the trip, I was fascinated by danzón. The dance is characterised by its lightness, emotionality and deep concentration. It is danced by old Mexicans with both joy and nostalgia. This dance allows one to escape into one’s own world of emotions”, said the composer. Danzón No. 2’s expressiveness is due to the subtle incorporation of folk melodies, sultry rhythms, changes in tempo and dynamics and the stylistics of the Cuban danzón, which is common in Mexico, especially in the Veracruz region, and which encodes a longing and a fiery dance element.

Márquez’s emotional composition is performed by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Modestas Barkauskas.