The Dream of George Crabbe by FREDERICK BRADNUM with music by Humphrey Searle
Alan Badel as George Crabbe
George Crabbe, the 19th-century poet, is probably best known for his poem about Aldeburgh, The Borough with its portrait of one of its inhabitants, Peter Grimes - which inspired Benjamin Britten's first opera, to be heard next Sunday. Crabbe was an opium taker from his 36th year, and much of the inspiration for the programme came from the chapter on Crabbe in Alethea Hayter's book Opium and the Romantic Imagination.
SINFONIA OF LONDON conducted by THE composer
Produced and directed by IAN COTTERELL
"One of the most chilling programmes I have heard for a long time. It was heartening to know that radio can still draw so substantial a contribution from a distinguised composer as Humphrey Searle's score for Ian Cotterell's production of this programme." (Derek Parker, THE LISTENER)
(First broadcast in 1975)