Another grumble ...

Typically, I have the opportunity to go and hear Ian Bostridge singing in Brussels during the week but can't get my act together, dither & then discover the concert's come and gone.

Then, this lunchtime, I sit listening to him present a programme on Radio 3 based around Benjamin Britten's compositions for tenor voice. I'd no idea about Britten's deep dislike of Vickers' interpretation of Peter Grimes nor really appreciated just what made Pears' voice so particularly suited to the works as a whole. In short, it was a fascinating and illuminating programme. Ian's commentary was predictably intelligent, articulate and considered, the contributors equally well-informed. Excerpts illustrated and further clarified the points being made. Good job all round.

This is radio as it should be: you finish the 45 minutes feeling better informed, revitalised, your appetite whetted to listen to more Britten and to listen more attentively. Your world has grown - a little but appreciably.

How rare it is to hear broadcasting that seems so stoically indifferent to marketing imperatives or self-imposed audience appeal.

And I wonder how many such programmes you can fund for one edition of Top Gear, Strictly Come Dancing, ...

See if you can access it via Listen Again/iPlayer in the UK (I doubt we can out here in Belgium).