Happy birthday, Thomas Adès

The English composer Thomas Adès is 39 today. He must get sick of being called the new Britten, but that is the easiest comparison: young, gifted and gay, he is, as Britten was, a fine conductor, an accomplished concert pianist and a hugely productive composer.

What’s more, almost all his music has been recorded by a major label (EMI, bless them) and is performed all over the world. His opera Powder Her Face which is based on the true story of the notorious Duchess of Argyll – this obituary from the Daily Telegraph (“a completely promiscuous woman”) is a classic of the genre – has even been performed in Queensland.

Here is the opening scene: it is a kind of tango but is very much not safe for work. Unless your office is cool with a man dressed as a duchess singing loudly about fellatio. My office is, but then I work from home.