Christian Li is 15 years old and the very definition of a prodigy. At the age of 10, the Australian violinist became the youngest ever winner of the Menuhin Competition; two years later he became the youngest musician to sign with Decca Classics. His debut album was of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and for his second he turns to the music of a fellow child star, Felix Mendelssohn.

The recording is thoughtfully programmed and played, revealing Li to be a sensitive and sparky violinist. The centrepiece is a fine account of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis, perhaps not yet probing enough to challenge the likes of Alina Ibragimova’s Hyperion recording, but certainly enjoyable and remarkably mature. The purity of Li’s tuning, the warmth of his sound and his cantabile lines characterise his playing throughout.

Around the concerto are programmed a selection of shorter pieces, some by Mendelssohn, others by his influences and contemporaries, performed with a variety of accompanists (pianists Laurence Matheson, James Baillieu, guitarist Xuefei Yang and chamber groups from the Melbourne...