Re: 'here is no dead space in Don Giovanni, Magic
Flute, Abduction etc -- it's one golden moment after another.
Shouldn't some special term be used to distinguish these exceptional
programs
from all the others ?
Maybe -- Derek would call them "art" ?"

I think it is a mistake to assume that a work of art - even a great work of
art - must necessarily be of even quality all the way through.  I think that
idea comes from the mistaken view that art is somehow a kind of mysterious
perfection.  Like those people who stand in front of a painting and claim -
usually in loud voice so others can hear - that 'just one paint stroke out
of place and it would have been ruined.'

Bollocks. There are many works - visual, literary and musical - which are
much better in some spots than in others.  Just as the one artist can often
turn out mediocre works after doing much better ones.  Art in my view occurs
very much in patches.  Very few artists manage to maintain the same level of
achievement all the time - and sometimes not even within the same work.
(Which is one reason why trying to draw neat lines between art and non art
is a waste of time and energy. It is always a hazy line.)

-- 
Derek Allan
http://www.home.netspeed.com.au/derek.allan/default.htm





On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 8:52 AM, Chris Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

> For me -- sports is all about a moment in time -- and once it's gone, I
> avoid
> it like an old campsite.
>
> I know that there are people even more fanatic than you -- who will
> videotape
> an entire season -- and play it back over the off-season -- but here I
> invoke
> the wisdom of Derek -- if your brain cells are capable of enjoying that --
> can't they be put to some better use?
>
> Nor -- would I ever sit through a play or film just to get to a few parts
> that
> really excited me.
>
> Fortunately, though, there are some that hold me tight from curtain to
> curtain.  Wilde's "Ideal Husband" is one such play -- "Good, Bad, Ugly" is
> one
> such film -- a film where almost every line of dialog is memorable (and
> I'm
> not the only one who has memorized many of them) and almost every frame
> seems
> to be another Caravaggio painting.
>
> Operas are special case -- since I'd rather hear the songs in dramatic
> context
> rather than recital -- so I'm willing to endure the downtime.
>
> But isn't Mozart the exception? There is no dead space in Don Giovanni,
> Magic
> Flute, Abduction etc -- it's one golden moment after another.
>
> Shouldn't some special term be used to distinguish these exceptional
> programs
> from all the others ?
>
> Maybe -- Derek would call them "art" ?
>
>
>
>
> I infer you're a football fan, so I ask: How about you? Would you try to
> recreate the moment any differently? My answer assumed I hadn't watched
> the
> event
> in some years.
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