Alan Moss <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>...most art is recorded!  A fresco by Caravaggio, a duomo by Brunelleschi,
>a sculpture by Michelangelo, a Shakespeare sonnet, a Tolstoy novel - these
>are all recorded, set down, set in stone, written in black and white, and
>so forth.

The way I see it, what we're talking about here is not recording but
performing.  A fresco by Caravaggio --and that's not what he was really
known for-- was painted and troweled and then got to be recorded on, say,
film.  The Duomo in Florence was created (in part) by Brunelleschi and only
subsequently recorded in etchings and on film.  Ditto for sculptures by
Michelangelo.  Shakespeare sonnets and Tolstoy novels were originally set
down in handwriting and then recorded in print.  Monteverdi's works were
composed in notation for performance by musicians.  They're still being
recorded on cd's.  It may be admissible to hold that recording can also
take the form of descriptive reporting and criticism.

Norman Lebrecht had it right--without engaging in any sophistry.

Denis Fodor