BPO Listening Club: Rach, Pag and Janacek's Sinfonietta

Joanna MacGregor is taking over the Brighton Unitarian Church on Friday 18 September for the BPO Listening Club, and it's a bit of a different one. Rather than a concert in the usual sense, this is an illustrated talk. MacGregor will be talking through the music of the concert, with Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini as the main feature. If you're the kind of person who likes to know what's actually going on in a piece of music while you're hearing it, this is exactly that: a guide to the programme, given by someone who knows it inside out.

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is the big name on the bill. It's Rachmaninoff's take on a theme by Paganini, and it's one of those pieces that works as well as a show-stopper as it does as a study in how one composer can build an entire work around a single, famous melody. MacGregor will be breaking it down, so you'll get a sense of where the music is coming from and where it's heading, rather than just letting it wash over you. The 'illustrated' part means there'll be visuals to go along with the talk, so it's not just a lecture — it's a way of seeing the music as well as hearing it.

It's part of the BPO Listening Club, which is all about getting a bit closer to the music than you usually do at a standard performance. Instead of just sitting in the dark and listening, you get the context and the detail that usually stays in the programme notes. MacGregor is a pianist and a writer, so she's well-placed to bridge that gap between the score and the listener. The whole thing takes place at the Brighton Unitarian Church, right here in the city, on Friday 18 September.