Aksel Rykkvin: Vien con nuova orribil guerra

He is 17 now and singing as a baritone, but between the ages of 12 and 14 Aksel Rykkvin was the most celebrated treble in the world. For once the American term 'boy soprano' seems justified.

Here he is at 13, singing Albinoni in Italian with a small baroque orchestra in his native Norway (he has an English grandmother).

I love everything about this video. The staging, the exotic instruments and Aksel's wonderful singing.

With most boys of this age you are on the edge of your seat in case they make a mistake. But such is his confidence here that you relax and enjoy the performance as you would with any other artist.

I also like the way he has to be persuaded to take a second bow.

At 12 Aksel recorded an album in London with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment - you can watch a short video about the recording process.

And, though he could do angelic if you wanted it, what really set him apart was his maturity as an interpreter of song. Try the recording of Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen he made shortly before his voice changed.

As one reviewer of his album said: "I am running out of superlatives."