In 2010, the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, decided to vanquish a midlife crisis by spending a year wrestling Chopin’s notoriously difficult Ballade No 1 into submission on his piano.

That a public exposition of how he did it (performing the piece and writing an accompanying book) might be thought entertaining suggests a homeopathic grip on reality. But the counterpoint to this apparent hubris is Rusbridger’s own hectic year spent handling the combined demands of falling newsprint sales, while being inadvertent midwife to some of the biggest stories throughout that year; WikiLeaks at the start of 2011, the implosion of the News of the World from the phone-hacking scandal at the year’s end and a revolution in Gaddafi’s Libya as a backdrop throughout.

In discussion with the Scott Trust’s Liz Forgan – followed by a short open question and answer session – Rusbridger was modest about his playing skills and cited a need to learn to commit the Ballade to a fickle memory in order to give his hands an even chance of hitting the correct keys. His bad technique was unpicked by deconstructing the music by note and finger.

The musical and Guardianista-heavy audience were unsurprisingly generous in both their questions and appreciation.