Arturo Márquez - Danzón No. 2, arr. for wind ensemble (Full score)

Commissioned by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, this piece premiered in 1994 in Mexico City by the Orchestra Filarmonica de la UNAM. Danzón No. 2 is now one of the most popular and most frequently performed Mexican contemporary classical compositions.

composed by Arturo Márquez (b. 1950)
transcribed by Oliver Nickel for wind ensemble

performed by "The President's Own" United States Marine Band
Dr. Paula Crider, guest conductor
live from the Singletary Center for the Performing Arts on March 10, 2016

"Evolved from the Cuban habanera, danzones are a dance that has been performed in Mexico’s Veracruz region since the 1800s. Márquez’s Danzón No. 2 takes up the melodic, rhythmic and harmonic features of the traditional dánzon and retains its rondo form. Alternating lyric sequences with colourful and pulsating interventions from the orchestra, the work begins with a sensuous melody played on the clarinet, discreetly accompanied by the claves, piano and pizzicato strings. Sustained by the claves’ obsessive beat, the music gradually builds until it pulls the entire orchestra into an irresistible whirlwind, a kind of apotheosis of the dance."
— Los Angeles Philharmonic

"The idea of writing the Danzón No. 2 originated in 1993 during a trip to Malinalco with the painter Andrés Fonseca and the dancer Irene Martínez, both of whom are experts in salon dances with a special passion for the danzón, which they were able to transmit to me from the beginning, and also during later trips to Veracruz and visits to the Colonia Salon in Mexico City. From these experiences onward, I started to learn the danzón’s rhythms, its form, its melodic outline, and to listen to the old recordings by Acerina and his Danzonera Orchestra. I was fascinated and I started to understand that the apparent lightness of the danzón is only like a visiting card for a type of music full of sensuality and qualitative seriousness, a genre which old Mexican people continue to dance with a touch of nostalgia and a jubilant escape towards their own emotional world; we can fortunately still see this in the embrace between music and dance that occurs in the state of Veracruz and in the dance parlors of Mexico City."
— Arturo Márquez

0:00 Danzón
2:16 Poco piu mosso
2:54 Con fuoco
4:55 Tempo primo
7:23 Piu mosso
8:57 Con fuoco