Play It Again

Product Description

As editor of the Guardian" Alan Rusbridger's life is dictated by the demands of the 24-hour news cycle. It is not the kind of job that leaves much time for hobbies. But in the summer of 2010 he managed to make his annual escape to a 'piano camp'. Here inspired by another amateur's rendition he set himself an almost impossible task: to learn in the space of a year Chopin's Ballade No.1 a piece with passages that demand outstanding feats of dexterity control memory & power
- a piece that inspires dread in many professional pianists. His timing could have been better. The next twelve months were to witness the Arab Spring the Japanese tsunami & the English riots & were bookended by the " Guardian" breaking two remarkable news stories: Wiki Leaks & the " News of the World" hacking scandal. It was a defining year in the life of the " Guardian" & its editor & one of the most memorable in the history of British journalism. Such was the background against which he tried to carve out twenty minutes' practice a day find the right teacher the right piano the right fingering
- even if that meant practising in a Libyan hotel in the middle of a revolution. Fortunately he was able to gain insights & advice from an array of legendary pianists from theorists historians & neuroscientists from a network of brilliant amateurs unearthed online even occasionally from secretaries of state. But was he able to play the piece in time?"