The virtues and otherwise of this grand testament to German High Romanticism were laid before London audiences last autumn in a rare performance at the South Bank; and it was obvious then that nothing less than visionary commitment and outstanding soloists could do the music justice, let alone hold the necessary level of intensity across two hours’ duration. Tunes aside, the atmosphere and anguish and Harvey’s tempestuous voice make the record stand out from its peers Nicholas Barber

Schumann: Scenes from Goethe’s Faust Berlin Philharmonic/Abbado (Sony, CD). (Bad Seed Mick Harvey, no relation, makes a guest appearance.) No longer reliant on power-trio attack, P J uses strings, organs, maracas and marimbas to broaden her range of textures within an overall minimalist feel: from the voodoo vibe of “I Think I’m a Mother” to the western dust of “C’mon Billy” The songwriting, however, is less distinctive You’re unlikely to hum her repetitive four-note riffs. “Forsaken Heaven/cursed God above/lain with the devil/to bring you my love.” Yes, it’s Polly Harvey’s lurrve album, and Barry White is safe in his job.

She may have ditched the bassist and drummer who originally made up her band, and reports say she is cheerier than she used to be, but To Bring You My Love does not evince a new mood. It’s a threatening, nightmarish creature: imagine Siouxsie and the Bad Seeds. P J Harvey: To Bring You My Love (Island, CD/LP/tape). `My Night With Reg’ is at the Criterion, WC2 (071-839 4488)..

It looks likely that his time of anonymity is about to end, but still he says his only hope is to “do more of what I’m doing at the moment: a play or a documentary or a film. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing.”! `Ready When You Are, Mr Patel’ is at 10.25pm on 14 March, BBC1. He travelled all the way to Bombay to find the right person to play Changez, the bridegroom-to-be in Buddha. But once he has decided, he is committed, supporting his actors in every way he can: “If you cast someone, it’s your fault if they’re not brilliant.”Michell lives in London with his wife, the actress Kate Buffery, and Harry, their three-year-old son. For a while Crisp showed his final drama-exercise film to subsequent courses as a way of demonstrating what could be done, “but no one else came close”.Part of Michell’s secret may be his ability to adapt so quickly from one media to another, and to establish a rapport with actors.

John Sessions, who is currently starring in My Night with Reg, talks of him as one of the most popular theatre directors in the business and, alongside Trevor Nunn, the best.He inspires a loyalty from actors that reflects his own loyalty to them. Mike Crisp, who has been an instructor on the course for the past eight years, considers Michell to have been the best student they ever had. I was struck both by its confident sense of theatricality, and the nuances of its comedy. It is a sensibility Kevin Loader believes he brought to Buddha: “He somehow managcd to convey not just the comedy, but the pain underneath.”The break into television came via the three-month BBC Director’s Course. I remember seeing his 1988 production of The Constant Couple three times. In 1978, at the age of 22, he won a place on the Regional Director’s Scheme at the Royal Court.And so back to Beckett “I couldn’t believe it.