At 17 when this album was released in 2025, violinist
Christian Li
was already a veteran with three albums on
Decca
(including this one), and his victory at the Menuhin junior competition in Switzerland nearly seven years in the past. Yet the
Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
, is a step up technically from what he has recorded in the past, and the album may be regarded as a debut on the world stage.
Li
has plenty of competition in this work, of course, and his attempt to break out from the pack will already be evident to those scanning the program; he surrounds the concerto with a sequence of dance and folklorish pieces, some for violin and piano only, that are thought to point to these same elements in the concerto itself. This aspect is stressed in the annotations by
Charlotte Gardner
, but it is not clear that it comes through the vast stretches of virtuosity in the concerto. The shorter pieces may seem a bit random, no matter how delightful some may be individually (try the "Waltz of the Flowers" from the
Nutcracker Suite
). All this said, the concerto is the main attraction listeners will be here for, and
's is a very strong performance that attests to unimpeded technical development. Sample his ascents into the top register in the concerto's outer movements and his sensitive relationship with the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
under conductor
Vasily Petrenko
, and all is not just well but exciting.
remains a youngster to watch. ~ James Manheim