Benjamin Britten's association with Faber is a long one, dating back to 1964 to the creation of Faber Music, one of whose express aims was to publish the composer's music. Over the decades Faber has published many books on Britten, including multiple volumes of Letters, the still-controversial 1992 biography by Humphrey Carpenter, and two books by John Bridcut - Britten's Children (2006) and Essential Britten (2012). Bridcut is one of the contributors to our series of podcasts marking the centenary of Britten's birth and in this, the first part of two, he talks about his own reaction to Britten as composer and conductor, and also tells us more about his book, Essential Britten.