When three bright young stars collide

SHEKU KANNEH-MASON is fiddling with his cello bow while eating his lunch.

- Mick Wall

"If I'm home I don't put my cello in its case," he shrugs. "I probably should, but I just like to have it by my side."

When I tease him that seeing him cradling his cello is a bit like Jimi Hendrix noodling with his guitar on the couch, Sheku smiles self-consciously:

"Oh, I don't know if I'm as cool as that. But thank you." What Sheku, who turned 25 last week, also shares with the late US rock hero is a deep, abiding love of classical music - and Beethoven in particular.

Three of Britain's finest musicians - Sheku, celebrated Scottish-Italian violinist Nicola Benedetti, 36, and Benjamin Grosvenor, the 31-year-old Essex-born piano wonderkid have joined forces to record Triple Concerto, one of Beethoven's most neglected pieces.

Nicola says: "The Triple Concerto was a piece I grew up hearing a lot of people talk badly about and be very disparaging towards.

"But from the minute I committed myself to it, I've loved the piece.' The glamorous virtuoso first met Ben when both were finalists in the BBC's Young Musician Of The Year 20 years ago.

Benjamin won the keyboard section while Nicola scooped the overall title.