Co-winner of the 2016 Carl Nielsen competition, Liya Petrova turns in a stylish performance of the concerto that brought her success.

Petrova plays with exceptional tonal variety. But what impresses me most, perhaps, si the way she binds phrases together…The Odense Symphony Orchestra play with confidence and character under Kristiina Poska, and seem as absorbed in their music-making as Petrova, particularly in the Prokofiev. A marvellous disc.

A pleasing pairing: Nielsen’s huge two-movement concerto, offering everything from romantic voluptuousness to matter-of-fact joviality, and Prokofiev’s First Concerto, with lyrical outer movements that mark a departure from the composer’s earlier, brittler self. The young Bulgarian Petrova, makes a gorgeous sound — ripe and silvery, phrasing with majestic breadth — and is ably supported by the Danish orchestra under Poska.

[Nielsen] Petrova makes the finest possible case for hearing this wonderful piece on a regular basis. Her cadenza is staggeringly good, while the first movement is intensely lyrical: she sings with her violin. She moves into Prokofiev’s language like a chameleon; the Scherzo is elfin. The high recording quality unobtrusively supports the interpretative level.