• Mozart y Mambo: La Bella Cubana (Alpha Classics) completes the uplifting trilogy of albums by Berlin Philharmonic horn player and salsa dancer extraordinaire Sarah Willis, with her Cuban collaborators, the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, conducted by José Antonio Méndez Padrón. Willis plays Mozart’s Horn Concerto No 4 in E flat, K495, demonstrating her gift for characterful and radiant solo performance. The Havana Lyceum’s orchestral playing matches hers with their own lithe definition, sparkling ornamentation and crisp detail. Cuban rhythms swing with Mozart in Edgar Olivero’s Rondo alla Rumba, inspired by the fourth concerto’s well-known finale, enhanced by spirited playing by small ensemble the Sarahbanda. In Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for four winds in E flat, K297b, Willis is joined by her Berlin Phil colleagues Jonathan Kelly, oboe, Wenzel Fuchs, clarinet, and Stefan Schweigert, bassoon. Willis bids farewell to this joyful endeavour in the irresistible Cuban hit Guantanamera (arr. Jorge Aragón). There’s another side to this project: sales of the records have gone towards the Instruments for Cuba Fund: buy all three and support these wonderful musicians.
