Music has the power to stir deep emotions, evoke memories, and move our bodies. It brings us together to dance, tell stories, and share life’s greatest joys. That spirit of celebration lies at the heart of this recording.

In 2017, after hearing Danzón No. 2 by the renowned Mexican composer Arturo Márquez, I wrote to him and asked if he would compose a violin concerto inspired by the rich traditions of mariachi music. Intrigued, especially since his father was a mariachi violinist, he composed Fandango, telling me he had waited more than twenty-five years to write this electrifying concerto. Premiered in 2021 at the Hollywood Bowl with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Fandango has since been performed fifty times by twenty orchestras, earning two GRAMMY® nominations and two Latin GRAMMY® Awards.

I always hoped Arturo would arrange Danzón No. 2 for violin and piano, and this recording features its world premiere. The work was inspired by Márquez’s 1993 visits to Malinalco, Veracruz and Colonia Salón in Mexico. “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.”Watching couples dance with elegance, nostalgia, and quiet dignity revealed how the danzón creates an intimate world of memory, passion, and human connection.” Today, Danzón No. 2 stands among the most celebrated and frequently performed orchestral works of our time.