Last autumn the Capuçon brothers, Renaud and Gautier, brought out a fine disc of Saint-Saëns’s La Muse et le poète together with the Violin Concerto No 3 and the Cello Concerto No 1 (Erato, 1/14). There has, in general, been a healthy stream of Saint-Saëns recordings over recent years but this three-disc set of nearly four hours’ music is different in that it includes not only the concertos we rarely hear but also the various miniatures with which Saint-Saëns enriched the violin and cello repertoire.

Another major distinguishing feature is that all the soloists are young (but, obviously, prodigiously advanced) alumni of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. And the talent here is quite breathtaking. Each of the three violin concertos is played by a different soloist – Liya Petrova, Jolente De Maeyer and Tatiana Samouil – and all three are completely spellbinding not just in technical matters but in stylistic sensibility and musical characterisation as well. Likewise on the second CD with Petrova alongside Elina Buksha, Harriet Langley and Maria Milstein in the Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo capriccioso and other less well-known concert pieces.

Adam Krzeszowiec is soloist in the First Cello Concerto, Deborah Pae in the Second, and both of them give any of the many other recordings already in the catalogue a good run for their money. What an inspired enterprise this is, ZZT opening the door to exceptionally gifted young players and with the Liège orchestra in peak form on a thoroughly impressive, exciting, highly desirable set.