On 3 Apr 2008 at 13:55, Darcy James Argue wrote: > My generation views songs as analogous to movies, which are released > in a fixed, immutable form. When you watch the late Jules Dassin's > brilliant film _Rififi_ at an repetory cinema, or on DVD, it's the > same movie audiences saw when it was originally released. (Allowing > for digital remastering, etc.)
I think this is a dangerous point of view. When you make the artifact the work of "art" then you're setting it up as something dead, not living. Musical performances don't seem to me to be *anything* like a movie -- a movie is complete in itself in regards to what is on film. But a recording is anything but complete, in comparison to the live performance. Of course, I betray my bias towards music-making as a social activity with live performers and live listeners. Secondly, even Rififi is *not* the same. You know the old saying "you can't enter the same river twice," and given all the things that have happened since the release of that great film, no one can experience it the same way it was originally experienced at its release. This is the old "authenticity" problem -- how can you have authentic performances of music without authentic audiences? > _Rififi_ is a very influential film. Many, many filmmakers have > borrowed or adapted elements from it, especially the spectacular and > innovative 28-minute heist sequence. But nobody's made a modern remake > of it -- and if they did, it would probably be much inferior. And > nobody expects to measure the quality of a movie by how many times > it's been remade by other directors. And that's precisely why, even though it's in an immutable form, it has changed, nonetheless -- because the audience has seen and absorbed what's come after, thus changing the meaning and impact of Rififi. Surely you've read Borges? -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
