Hold onto your hats! There is rarely a lack of energy where Gabriela Montero is concerned and this disc featuring her own Piano Concerto is no exception…The overall impression is of an affirmatory, rambunctious jamboree that acts as a showcase here not only of her prodigious talent, but also those of the youthful musicians from The Orchestra of the Americas…With its own jazzy and subversive elements, Ravel’s Concerto in G is an apt partner for Montero’s, and this is a fine account.

Those having heard her rhapsody Ex patria will appreciate Montero’s command creatively and executively, and her First Piano Concerto proves no less assured. Its Latin subtitle indicates the Latin American inflections which are everywhere apparent...Competition is stiff in the Ravel…Montero holds her own, however.

I’m not sure which to praise more, the sunshine drive of her playing or the captivating energy of Carlos Miguel Prieto’s Orchestra of the Americas, but one thing is clear: this album is enormous fun.

“Opening slowly and reflectively, a little sadly, Gabriela Montero’s ‘Latin’ Concerto is soon out of the traps bursting with notes for the piano – hip-swinging and foot-tapping – as the sun shines on this ‘Mambo’, the orchestra joining in the festivities, although that twilight/bittersweet beginning returns at the movement’s midpoint before exuberance take hold once more.”