By Andrew Clark [Financial Times, 11 December 2007]

It’s hard to remember a closer crop of Britten operas in London. The past week has seen Glyndebourne’s touring Albert Herring, English National Opera’s The Turn of the Screw and concerts of Owen Wingrave and Billy Budd. All this is testimony to Britten’s enduring appeal, but the reasons for it are insufficiently appreciated. Yes, he was brilliant at finding the right musical language to dramatise the action. But he also had a nose for subjects and texts that would suit him – a skill today’s composers seem to have lost.