An example: your “A Hudson Cycle” is probably just right in length for a live performance, but when I lie down, eyes closed, plugged in to my iPod, I want it to go on for another 15-20 minutes or so. Something about hearing it plugged in changes my perception of time and I really want to live in that world for much longer than I can.

Why not create alternative versions of the same piece tailored for different listening technologies?

There’s a Duchamp notion, which I can’t quote exactly, that was a kind of mantra for me at one point: that any book over 200 pages was probably too long. As much as I respect Caro for writing the Power Broker, I only made it to p-400 or so of that book, and I tried real hard.

I tend to think one contributing factor to “too long” at this moment in time is (1) the internets and how they remove the length constraints of traditional publishing (be it CDs run times, the cost of paper), and (2) lack of money (editors cost money in any discipline so why not fire them, reduce their ranks, or transform their job from forcing concision to making acquisitions! the going rates for most magazine & newspaper journalism have been stagnant since the 1960s, so fuck trying to edit anything down!) and of course there is the matter of (3) ego. But that’s an entirely different conversation…

I hope this comment has not been “too long.”

Can you imagine what Bertelsmann would do with Proust, say, if first confronted with the MSS today?

But you’re right that length is largely a matter of perception.

The lack of editing in our field is a function of both the inherent solitary work, and the fact that few of us trust anyone else enough to work with them as an ‘editor.’ But I did just that on my last piece, and it was fantastically helpful. Indeed, it inspired me to cut something like 5%.

To use your analogy, I think the temptation to serve everything you have bought is great, but as you say so well, the best meal is the simple, well-articulated one; we taste each ingredient only if it is not overloaded with superfluous spices, or too many courses.

I wonder what M. Volans has to say about such things. I went to his pre-concert lecture, and he seemed intent on reversing what he deemed unnecessary preconceptions about pacing, that we have been programmed by pop music to expect a shift every twenty seconds.

But while I’ll admit that it’s a matter of aesthetics to a certain extent, there is a human need for novelty and excitement, and we want to be told a story-a story with unexpected shifts, and spooky, amazing scenery. And we want it to be well-told. Okay, I’m off to other parts of your site. That was a fantastic post, and I agree wholeheartedly with what you say.