The album comprises a thrilling array of themes from games but also television, anime and film. Recorded in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Cristian Mǎcelaru, tracks include the main theme from the Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, “Pallet Town” from Pokémon Red and “I Remember My Name” from Squid Game. These compositions gravitate around the sonic centrepiece of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s sublime Violin Concerto, composed in 1945 by the godfather of the sweeping Hollywood soundtrack. Like Ray, Erich was a child prodigy. Like Ray, he was drawn to the dramatic and the cinematic. And like Ray, he understood the thrill of storytelling. Nintendo consoles, TV dramas, films, anime, soundtracks and a near century-old work by Korngold may at first seem like disparate cultural phenomena. But they have one thing in common. They weave fantasies. Player 1 is a contemporary journey into these fantastical realms.

Nostalgia looms in surprising and uplifting ways. Ray performs using the 1714 “Dolphin” Stradivarius, the violin that once belonged to Jascha Heifetz, who premiered the Korngold Concerto in 1947. Ray is the web that binds everything together. “Player 1 aims to create a meaningful connection between the past and the present,” he says.

The past to which he refers also includes the recent past. His music acts as an enchanted key that unlocks doors in our memory. Ray knows that many Generation X and Millennial fans grew up playing video games or watching older siblings play (Ray still plays The Legend of Zelda on his Nintendo Switch). Many of these listeners now have children who are gamers. The album, then, is “for all the kids who grew up”, he says. Player 1 proves beyond doubt that melody and memory can be two sides of the same precious coin.

Through this album, Ray is trying to change how classical music is viewed. He believes the genre is too often seen as formal, complex and traditional when it should be seen as accessible, inspiring and joyful. Just like computer games, he believes that classical music should integrate seamlessly into our daily lives. This is his mission.

If anyone can achieve it, Ray can. Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, he played as a soloist with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra aged eight. He was still a teenager when he won the Yehudi Menuhin competition in Cardiff in 2008. The following year he won the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. From here, he didn’t look back. His career achievements are legion: from playing live in front of an audience of 800,000 in Paris’s Champ de Mars to founding the Made in Berlin string quartet. He has duetted with musicians as diverse as Sting and Jay Chou, known as the “King of Mandopop”. Ray has a global social media reach of over 2.3 million people via platforms including TikTok, Instagram and Discord. This figure has almost doubled in the last year alone, while Tonic – his app for music practice, motivation and feedback – now has over 150,000 users. Nine albums in, Ray is without question redefining what it means to be a classical musician in the 21st century.

But at its heart, Player 1 is about the music. Each theme for this album has been specially arranged for Ray with stunning results. “Pallet Town”, from Pokémon Red, used to only exist as a flat-toned 8-bit sound on a Game Boy console, catchy but tinny. Here, that same tune becomes lush, symphonic and full, making a mockery of any perceived boundaries between classical music culture and anime and gaming culture. Ray commissioned the track Serenade from Los Angeles-based Indonesian composer Eunike Tanzil. Its delicate refrain is as light as summer clouds yet it builds to evoke the epics of the silver screen. Korngold’s classical masterwork, meanwhile, is given new life with a definitive interpretation. Its soaring phrasing, played here with stunning virtuosity, is unforgettable.

Ray is proof that the violin – and the possibilities it holds – is ever evolving, just like technology itself. Player 1 demonstrates that classical music can be a conduit for new forms of expression. Games connect and bond people. And so, in an emphatic way, will this album. So get ready to play.

JAMES HALL