For her first Mozart release, Simone Dinnerstein chooses two of the composer’s most deservedly popular (and oft-recorded) concertos. She plays the C major, K467, with heartfelt directness, purity of line and a way of bringing out inner counterpoints without labouring the obvious or exaggerating feminine endings in the name of ‘expression’. The famous ‘Elvira Madigan’ slow movement is particularly telling in this regard. She plays Ferruccio Busoni’s anachronistic yet wittily inventive cadenza in the Allegro vivace assai finale. However, she emends Busoni’s terrific first-movement cadenza with treacle-coated interpolations by Philip Lasser that must be heard to be believed. They make Liberace sound like Murray Perahia!

I’m sorry Dinnerstein didn’t choose the Busoni option for the A major, K488, over Mozart’s less inspired original cadenza, yet she shapes her solo part with vocally informed phrasing, while goosing up bass lines with the occasional and well-warranted kick in the pants, so to speak. She sustains her slow tempo for the Adagio with a wide yet subtle palette of tonal shadings and articulations, while conveying the zesty finale’s joy and wit by way of crisp fingerwork and strategic left-hand accents that propel phrases over the bar lines.

As for the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, they’ve made great strides since I heard them perform live during that city’s 2015 Mozart Festival. Intonation and ensemble values are pretty well honed, although the relatively thin string tone, often diffuse orchestral blend and general lack of nuance come up short in comparison with their European counterparts. Compare their threadbare rising string scales in K488’s first-movement ritornello to the firmer, more assured Mackerras/Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Telarc) recording, just to cite one example. Part of the problem is the overly reverberant acoustic of the Oratorio San Felipe Neri, which, however, presents no problem for Dinnerstein, since her instrument is miked at a closer and clearer perspective. That said, the orchestra’s potential for greatness is obvious, and so is the seriousness and fervent dedication that their music director José Antonio Méndez Padrón brings to everything he conducts. Such meaningful cross-cultural collaborations are needed now more than ever, and in an American era where the idea of building a border wall looms large, it’s heartening to find Simone Dinnerstein, through music, building bridges instead.