Hildegard's Visions and Virginity

[ardcarp]

Once again Radio 4 has trespassed, brilliantly, into R3's territory. Matthew Paris and Iain Burnside, both fluent and witty presenters, left me helpless with laughter as they discussed Hildegard von Bingen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b014q00c

Do give this a whirl if you want to be thoroughly entertained for half an hour. And there are some musical examples.

[Anna]

I'm so glad you posted about this, I was going to do so myself and all the time I was listening I was thinking 'Why is this not on Radio 3" I enjoyed it immensely.

[DracoM]

Terrific programme. Totally agree.

And to shame R3 even further, [a] why are the Reith Lectures not on R3? And [b] very fine programme about rioters, the moral landscape on R4. Why not on R3?

[Chris Newman]

Great stuff. I almost expected handbags at dawn till the girls broke them up

[jean]

Matthew Paris and Iain Burnside...

And some credit for Cerys Matthews for having chosen her?

[ardcarp]

And some credit for Cerys Matthews for having chosen her?

Oh yes indeed.

[ardcarp]

why are the Reith Lectures not on R3?

If you wrote spy thrillers, you just couldn't invent Eliza Manningham-Buller! She and her topic are a strange choice for the Reith Lecures, mainly because you can't take anything anyone from the SIS says at face value. At least I can't. Her point today seemed to be that one has to sacrifice some civil liberty in the interests of protecting the realm. Hmm. Anyway, Ms Buller's clear jargon-free English would grace R3 nicely. Maybe she could be persuaded to coach Breakfast presenters as a retirement job?

[gurnemanz]

We enjoyed this programme driving up the M4 to the Wigmore for Gerhaher's Schöne Müllerin (also very good), which included her poetic description of an orgasm without ever having experienced one herself.

[ardcarp]

without ever having experienced one herself.

Really....