A native of the Mexican state of Sonora, M\u00e1rquez is known for his adroit incorporation of Mexican musical forms and styles into his compositions.\u00a0\u00a0 One of Mexico\u2019s eminent contemporary composers, he is widely popular with Latin Americans for the accessibility and attractiveness of his compositions. Recipient of an impressive list of honors, his recent works include a commission from the San Antonio Symphony, a cello concerto, and an homage to Emiliano Zapata, the Mexican revolutionary.<\/p>\n
After early musical training on trombone, violin, and piano, he became a student at the Conservatorio Nacional in the early nineteen seventies.\u00a0 He then went on to study in Europe with the eminent French composer, Jacques Cast\u00e9r\u00e8rede.\u00a0 He subsequently was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with the well-known American composer Morton Subotnick.\u00a0 Under the influence of the latter composer, earlier on he was active in a compositional style that featured mixed media excursions in dance, theatre, and film.\u00a0\u00a0 Computers, tape, electro-acoustic devices, unusual percussion instruments, and actors all contributed to an avant-garde reputation. But all has not been on the cutting edge, for he is also known for his interest in popular urban musical styles, expressed in more conventional ensembles.\u00a0 His later move to a personal idiom made full use of traditional Mexican urban music\u2014but not necessarily \u201cfolk\u201d music.\u00a0 Representative of these compositions that have brought him worldwide fame are the eight Danz\u00f3nes<\/em> for orchestra. They take their stylistic cue from the music of the Mexican state of Veracruz, as well as of Cuba.\u00a0 Danzon <\/em>No. 2, perhaps his most well known work for orchestra, was commissioned by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and had its premi\u00e8re in 1994.<\/p>\n A danz\u00f3n <\/em>is a formal ballroom dance, similar in some ways to the tango, with much of the latter\u2019s passion and rhythms, but with its own intricate footwork. The habanera of Cuba is more or less an antecedent of the danz\u00f3n<\/em>, as it migrated to the cafes and dance halls of urban Mexico.\u00a0 The seductive, often melancholy, nature of the dance is irresistible, both in the simple bands of the dance halls, and equally in the masterful symphonic settings of M\u00e1rquez.\u00a0 It lives on in Cuba and Mexico, danced by an older generation.<\/p>\n Danz\u00f3n <\/em>No. 2, rather than a simple exposition of a dance, in typical \u201csquare,\u201d balanced sections, is an episodic exploration of the danz\u00f3n\u2019s <\/em>varied moods.\u00a0 It opens quietly and elegantly with extensive woodwind solos, with intensity and sophistication.\u00a0 A new and vigorous episode, introduced by the piano, leads to \u201cpunchy\u201d accents, led by the brass.\u00a0 A sudden calm is quickly broken by smearing trombones, and yet another catchy idea.\u00a0 The piano then leads stylishly and pensively to the palm court environs of the ballroom.\u00a0 The serenity can\u2019t last long, and a return to previous vigor ideas ensues, with a stylish trumpet solo, ending with a gradually building frenzy.\u00a0 A momentary quietude featuring the piccolo and piano last only a second before the drive to the smashing conclusion.<\/p>\n This highly attractive paean to the danz\u00f3n <\/em>may be favorably compared to Ravel\u2019s masterful and evocative La valse<\/em>.\u00a0 Both are sympathetic symphonic treatments of a traditional ballroom dance\u2014but apotheoses seen through the lens of a kaleidoscope.<\/p>\n –Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n \u00a9 2015 William E. Runyan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"program_note_tax":[23],"class_list":["post-136","program_note","type-program_note","status-publish","hentry","program_note_tax-arturomrquez"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/program_note"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"program_note_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note_tax?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}