Radio

Published on Saturday 25 July 2009 13:18

GUITAR fanatics seem privy to a pleasure the rest of us can only imagine.

We've all met them: men (because let's face it, this is almost exclusively a male sport) who describe Slash's self-indulgent solos as "orgasmic" or prattle on about Steve Vai's Mixolydian mode. Proving that girls can rock too is singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading, who presents a new five-part series starting this week. Joan Armatrading's Favourite Guitarists (BBC Radio 4, Monday, 3.45pm) are a diverse bunch – Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, American blues songstress Bonnie Raitt, classical player John Williams, Pentangle guitarist Bert Jansch and Bloc Party's Russell Lissack. As Armatrading interviews them, each guitarist has their instrument on hand to illustrate their technique.

On the flip side of the musical spectrum, Friday night is music night – Lorna Luft And Friends Celebrate The Music Of Judy Garland (BBC Radio 2, Friday, 7.30pm) pays tribute to the icon who died 40 years ago. Garland's daughter Lorna leads the celebrations, with fellow performers Linzi Hateley, Frances Ruffelle, John Barrowman and the BBC Concert Orchestra.

The birth bicentenary of Alfred, Lord Tennyson brings Maud, his melodramatic poem of love and madness, to the airwaves. Spoken by a disturbed protagonist in the aftermath of his father's suicide and mother's death, the poem shocked readers on its publication, and Tennyson himself described it as "the history of a morbid poetic soul". Tennyson's Maud (BBC Radio 4, today, 3pm) is read by Joseph Millson, with sound design by Christopher Shutt.