Mozart y Mambo – La bella Cubana
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Horn Concerto in E flat major K 495
Edgar Olivero (b. 1985)
Rondo alla Rumba
Mozart
Sinfonia Concertante for four winds in E flat major, K297b
José White Lafitte (1835-1918)
La Bella Cubana
Joseíto Fernández (1908-1979)
Guantanamera
Sarah Willis (horn)
Jonathan Kelly (oboe), Wenzel Fuchs (clarinet), Stefan Schweigert (bassoon), Harold Madrigal Frías (trumpet)
Havana Lyceum Orchestra/José Antonio Méndez Padrón
The Sarahbanda
rec. 2022, Havana
Alpha Classics 937 [66]
Here comes the third CD in this extraordinary series; horn player Sarah Willis has become a huge lover and admirer of Cuban musical culture, and these recordings – plus documentaries, concerts and a new career for Willis as a broadcaster – are the outcome. I can recommend this disc without hesitation, in part because I think it will cheer any listener up – I challenge anyone to get to the end without a smile on their face.
Sarah Willis is a remarkable person; of course she’s a fabulous horn player, and a member of that section of the Berlin Philharmonic; but she is also a genuinely passionate advocate of everything Cuban, especially its music and dance. She has also done her best to give a higher profile to Cuban’s many terrific musicians, and has made a very special relationship with the orchestra who play on this disc, the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, and their conductor José Antonio Méndez Padrón.
So this is an immensely entertaining listen; don’t be misled, the standard of playing is very high, and the two Mozart works receive excellent performances. In the 4th Concerto, I was absolutely blown by Willis’s playing. Number one, she has a very beautiful sound; huge and rich, but with a certain openness of tone which puts her in a British tradition of hornists going back to the great Dennis Brain (and beyond). But though she’s disarmingly modest about her work as a soloist, she shapes this music to perfection, alert to every possibility of expression and characterisation.
In the Sinfonia Concertante, she is joined by colleagues lured from the Berlin Phil (something tells me they might not have been too hard to persuade!). It is a lovely work, and I’ve never been convinced that there is anything dubious about its provenance, despite the opinions of some academics. To me, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and as you listen to the gorgeously beautiful writing for all four soloists, and the seemingly spontaneous and unending flow of melody, you ask yourself ‘well if not Mozart, then who the heck is it by??’ It’s played here con amore by the four BPO instrumentalists, with alert, colourful support from the Havana Lyceum Orchestra.
In between we have a piece of fun in the shape of Edgar Olivero’s Rondo alla Rumba, based on the famous finale of the 4th Horn Concerto. That movement has had a tough time of it over the years, what with Flanders and Swann’s immortal “Ill Wind” and now this; but it comes out, as ever, with head held high. The group that play this are called ‘Sarahbanda’ (yes, she has a penchant for slightly dodgy word-play; well, nobody’s perfect!).
José White’s song La Bella Cubana, which gives the CD its title, is a famous piece, and I love the way it alternates between a slightly melancholy languor and lively Cuban rhythms. Then Joseíto Fernández’ favourite, Guantanamera brings the whole thing to a riotous conclusion – everyone’s having a huge party! Someone needs to write a follow-up arrangement with the words ‘One Sarah Willis, there’s only One Sarah Willis’.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
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