• Tracks

Thomas Adès CBE is a prodigious English composer, conductor and pianist, described by The New York Times in 2007 as "one of the most accomplished and complete musicians of his generation." The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) has collaborated with Adès since his season as Composer-in-Focus with the Orchestra in 2000-01. Luxury Suite from Powder Her Face, adapted from the opera, was commissioned by six arts organisations including the London Philharmonic Orchestra and premiered by the Berlin Philharmonic in 2018. It centres on an elderly Duchess (in all but name the notorious real-life Duchess of Argyll) on the brink of eviction from her hotel room, looking back over her salacious career. Five Spells from The Tempest, an orchestral suite drawn from Adès's 2003 opera based on Shakespeare's play, debuted at the 2022 Dresden Festival and received it's UK premiere performance and recording by the LPO in 2023. Inferno Suite, based on Dante's The Divine Comedy, was commissioned in 2019-20 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Ballet and centres on the protagonist's journey through the fires of hell. Adès conducts all work on this release, and all recorded performances were UK premieres.