THE ART OF RECORDING AND THE AESTHETICS OF PERFECTION

Recording has transformed the nature of music as an art by reconfiguring the opposi- tionbetweenthe aesthetics of perfection and imperfection. A precursor article, 'The Art of Improvisation and the Aesthetics of Imperfection', contrasted the perfectionist aesthetic of the 'work-concept'with theimperfectionist aesthetic of improvisation. Imperfectionist approaches to recording are purist in wanting to maintain the diachronic and synchronic integrity of the performance, which perfectionist recording creatively subverts through mixing and editing. But a purist transparency thesis cannot evadethe factthatthe recordedimageiscrafted; againstcreative editing, however, theimperfectionist ideal of the'complete take'is humanistic and anti- mechanistic, and not mere Romantic illusion. The article concludes withadiscussion of the question of the artistic status of recording, and contrasts the possibility ofa non-acousmaticsound art with the essentially acousmatic art of music