Aksel Rykkvin's voice had already changed by the time I discovered him on YouTube. As I wrote when choosing an aria by him as one of my Sunday music videos:
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."
Last night Aksel gave his first public recital as a baritone in the UK, appearing at the National Liberal Club in London.
He is just as impressive as he was as a treble. Perhaps because is still young to be singing professionally as a baritone, he has maintained the wonderful clarity he had as a boy and the same dignity. There is no overacting about his performance: he allows the poets' words to speak through him.
You can hear him above singing Schubert a few months ago.
