Benjamin Britten made a habit of writing music-theatre pieces to be done in church, with varying degrees of theatricity, ranging from the oratorio-like St Nicolas to the operatic Burning Fiery Furnace. And they’re all great pieces. Very great, I’d argue, in the case in Noye’s Fludde which, although written for amateurs and children, is a work of towering genius and moral force. I caught a snatch of it on radio the other week, while still in shock over the EU referendum, and its final scene – where God gives Noah the rainbow as a sign of reconciliation, peace and comfort while the congregation sing and bugles blare at a dodgy pitch – reduced me, as it usually does, to tears. If only that were real life.