24-25 Program Book - Flipbook - Page 21
Paisajes bajo el signo de cosmos
[Landscapes Under the Sign of Cosmos] (1993)
JESUS ARTURO MÁRQUEZ NAVARRO
(b. December 20, 1950)
Born in Álamos, Sonora, Mexican composer
Arturo Márquez was exposed to many
styles as a child, especially since his
father and grandfather were mariachi and
folk musicians. He studied music at the
Conservatorio Nacional and later went to
Paris to study composition with Jacques
Castérèrede. Márquez has been, among
other appointments, director of the Navojoa
Municipal Band and teacher of composition
at the Escuela Nacional de Música.
He has received numerous commissions and has become one of Mexico’s most
famous composers. He is known for interdisciplinary/mixed-media works, but his
most popular pieces incorporate the rhythms and melodic inflections of popular
urban music.
Márquez wrote Paisajes Bajo el signo de Cosmos in 1993 for a retrospective
exhibition of the Mexican painter Jose Maria Velasco (1840-1912) in Mexico’s
National Museum of the Arts. The music begins quietly, gradually building to a
very aggressive rhythmic section. This dramatic, percussive music continues for
some time, eventually giving way to a gentler but no less rhythmically intense
section that features a variety of soloists. Eventually, the intensity subsides further
and a softer, more lyric section provides a brief respite. Suddenly, the dramatic,
percussive music returns and brings the piece to an exciting close. Márquez’s
introspective qualities, strong indigenous rhythms, colorful orchestration, and
distinctive melodies show his creativity and strong interest in expressing his
Mexican heritage.
CLASSICAL SERIES STAR WARS AND THE PLANETS 21
