This is the third and final release in a series of recordings made by Berlin Philharmonic hornist Sarah Willis in Havana, Cuba, mostly during the COVID-19 pandemic. All the albums have, as the title suggests, fused Mozart with Cuban music, and the graphics are festooned with images of Willis riding in some of the classic 1950s American cars that have been preserved in Havana's rust-free environment (here, a 1955 Buick Roadmaster, perhaps). As before, Willis is backed by the Havana Lyceum Orchestra under conductor Jose Antonio Mendez Padron, a youthful group with contagious enthusiasm, and in the Cuban jazz pieces by her own Sarahbanda. All the albums are worthwhile, but this one may be the choice for those wanting to acquire one; the Mozartian and Cuban elements are the most effectively fused here. The three Mozart horn concertos are distributed across the three albums, and here, the finale is matched inventively to a jazz treatment of the same material in Rondo alla Rumba, with the repeated notes of the concerto's solo part forming the basis for the improvisation. Willis is an adept jazz player, and one senses that the project brought out her talents in this area. She is joined on the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante in B flat major, K. 297b (a disputed work but probably authentic to some degree), by three of her Berlin Philharmonic colleagues. A rousing treatment of the old song Guantanamera ends the trilogy in a rousing mood of celebration. The other releases in the series have sold well, and there is no reason to think that this one will not. ~ James Manheim
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