There is a lot of music in this story.

Gustav is an ageing violinist based in London but originally from Prague. He sits in a concert hall on the South Bank and loses himself in the music – , naturally – and in good memories from his youth. At the end he steps out into the warm London night, still in good spirits and lost in music. But then things start to go wrong.

So begins The New World by Federica Lugaresi, read by Jonathan Coy, which goes out on Radio 4 tomorrow. You’ll have to listen to find out what happens to Gustav thereafter.

Our long-running new writing showcase The Time Being may have come to end – at least for now – but we are still on the lookout for new writers when and where we can. Where did we find Federica? Not for the first time over the years we are in the debt of the excellent creative writing department at Birkbeck College, London. In this instance, Toby Litt shared Federica’s ‘Roundabout’ – a colourful tale but emotionally nicely understated – on social media. Months later, The New World is about to hit the airwaves.

A producer’s pulse quickens when he or she reads a story that calls out for musical colour. It’s an invitation to play, a chance to be creative. But it’s also a challenge to keep it under control. Once you underscore one mood with music, another mood demands you counter with something else (in this story Shostakovich makes a sudden, unscripted appearance for this very reason.) It’s difficult to start running Smetana’s Vltava under anything and know when to say ‘Enough!’

Years ago, I went to see an exhibition of Holbein’s work. The pictures that interested me most were some exquisite pencil drawings of members of King Henry’s court – occasionally heightened by small patches of colour wash. What producers do is ‘the wash’ – it can enhance, but the line is still the thing.

Maybe it’s serendipity that The New World is going out on the same day as the first night of the Proms …

The New World by Federica Lugaresi will TX on BBC Radio 4 on 14 July at 3.45 pm. Available on iPlayer thereafter for 30 days.

*

See also http://www.sweettalkproductions.co.uk