MÁRQUEZ: Concierto de Otoño

by Jeff Counts

Márquez was born in Sonora, Mexico and, though he also studied in America and Europe, his home country has never been far from his mind. In addition to numerous awards and academic recognitions for his work as a composer,
Márquez has enjoyed a fair measure of celebrity in the classical music world, thanks to Gustavo Dudamel and the television show that was designed to freely mimic the conductor’s rise. Maestro Dudamel (the real one) helped put Marquez on the world map by performing and recording his Danzon No. 2 in 2008, a piece that would later feature prominently in an episode of the American comedy-drama “Mozart in the Jungle.” Like Maestro Dudamel, it was another of Venezuela’s celebrated El Sistema graduates for who Arturo Márquez wrote a concerto in 2018. That was Pacho Flores, the multi-award-winning trumpet virtuoso and
master of both popular and classical styles. For Márquez, he was the perfect muse. About his Concierto de Otoño for trumpet and orchestra, the composer writes: “The trumpet is queen in the soul of Mexico; we find it in practically all popular musical expressions, it is the Mexican cry of joy and sadness. It is also fundamental in Latin American concert music and my Concierto de Otoño is a compilation of all these feelings, colors and sorrows.” The concerto was premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico under the baton of Carlos Miguel Prieto.