#HF11 Thomas Adès sails his own ship and steers across familiar waters with new compositions

The ark as the earth, as a spaceship carrying us through the chaos of the universe to a safe haven. The pole star as the apparent magnetic centre of the universe around which all the stars revolve. No, this is not woolly new age chatter, these are the starting points for Tevot and Polaris, two major orchestral works by Thomas Adès, which had their Dutch premiere under the composer's own direction.

Pianist, conductor and composer, everything comes amazingly easily to the Briton, who has just turned 40. His two operas, Powder her face and The Tempest, unlike almost all new operas, are regularly rerun and all the world's great orchestras are willing to commission his works. There is something curious about Adès: darling of critics and audiences alike. His music is unmistakably virtuoso - some passages of his violin concerto, for instance, seem unplayable - but at the same time contains melodies that are recognisable as such, which makes his music catch on even the very first listen and not infrequently manages to move. Adès draws inspiration not only from classical masters, but also from jazz, pop music and, if necessary, the sound of an iPhone or a tram.

Nor does Adès shy away from the big canvas: the orchestral scoring for Tevot is Mahlerian, complete with tuned starters and a veritable army of other percussion. He is not afraid of the grand gesture either; the piece ends with a radiant major chord, played forte of course. At such moments you inevitably think of Mahler's second, but less than ten minutes earlier it sounds unmistakably like Sibelius. But which one? The fifth or the seventh? And the beginning, is that Stravinsky but with improbably high top notes? And do we really hear a patch of Led Zeppelin?

Yes and no. It looks like Sibelius, but is patently not. For Adès does not quote, but has made everything so much his own AND adds unprecedented rhythmic textures to it, creating something that indeed stands like a sturdy ship sailing on familiar waters, but following a course all its own. With Adès at its shining centre.

Thomas Adès, Violin concerto 'Concentric Parts', Polaris Voyage for Orchestra, Tevot. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Leila Josefowicz (violin), conducted by Thomas Adès. Seen: 17 June, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam