“A painting is never finished – it simply stops in interesting places.” – Paul Gardner
Go listen to the most artful recording you know and listen with Paul Gardner’s ears. That is, listen with the understanding that it is an unfinished work of art: it stopped in an interesting place, but given more time, money, or input, it could have continued to develop until it arrived at some other interesting place.
One interesting place to look might be the recordings of The Beatles, which contain universally heralded artistic masterpieces. What does it mean to really understand that a record like Eleanor Rigby didn’t evolve to its final form with string quartet – given another six months, would it have continued to grow and change in its artistry?
This isn’t about better or worse. This is about constant change. And of course, The Beatles themselves were fine with their pieces continuing to evolve and stop in multiple different places – just think of their three wildly different versions of “Revolution,” including the very experimental “Revolution 9” as well as two other versions very different tempo, feel, and arrangement.
For me, I’m listening to my favorite vocal arrangement today – Gene Puerling’s “All The Things You Are” as recorded on The Singers Unlimited A Capella III. It’s perfect to me, but when I listen with the idea that it simply stopped in a perfectly interesting place, I feel like I can see farther along the horizon, to other interesting places Puerling might have found. Not better, but different.