(Toccata TOCC0109)
Composer, conductor and soloists on this recording are all under 17, the youngest, pianist Zhang Xiao Ming, a mere 10 years old. Alexander Prior was 16 when he travelled the world to find the most promising young players to perform a concerto he would write for them. Velesslatvitsa, a triumphant hymn to the Slav god of music, was the result, a thoroughly rewarding, accessible, tonal "concerto grosso" steeped in the Russian Romantic tradition and played with an assurance way beyond their years by Zhang, with violinists Simone Porter and Michael Province, 12 and 13, and cellist Nathan Chan, 15. Astonishing.
Stephen Pritchard
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