Scope

1) In a new interview, David Lang and Hilary Hahn talk about creating a world where musicians can help each other and enjoy each other's existence rather than trying to kill each other all the time. Novel, eh? Lang on winning the Pulitzer: "I feel kind of creepy..."

2) One more thing about Inglourious Basterds as compared to the typical Hollywood flick, and once again it relates to compositional space, although in a more abstract way this time. Most big movies start with all of the characters being introduced in the first four minutes or so, and then the predictable combinations ensue. In this movie key people don't emerge until later, or someone enters the stage, is central for a while, and then disappears. The psychological effects of this on me as a viewer are huge--it creates a feeling of this movie as a world where people exist even when they aren't being pictured. Where do these important characters GO when they leave the action? And additionally, you have a side element like the largely unrepresented love story between Shoshanna and Marcel. It is only hinted at, but not, as it could've been, edited out; being beyond the immediate scope of the narrative does not disqualify this plotline from mention, which contributes to the richness of the movie's world.

It reminded me, weirdly enough, of rereading The Hobbit last summer and marveling at Tolkien's constant mentions of extraneous characters and events that he would then ostentatiously refuse to explain ("but _____ does not come into this tale," etc). The reader concludes that the author must have invented these elements for a reason, even if this logic is, for the moment or for the duration of the work, denied.

A piece can be unitary, complete, and still open-ended. In Winter Music, John Luther Adams quotes a carpenter/poet friend: "Wholeness is better than perfection."