Abstract
Christy Mag Uidhir has recently argued (a) that there is no in principle aesthetic
difference between a live performance and a recording of that performance, and
(b) that the proper aesthetic object is a type which is instantiated by the performance
and potentially repeatable when recordings are played back. This paper
considers several objections to (a) and fi nds them lacking. I then consider improvised
music, a subject that Mag Uidhir explicitly brackets in his discussion. Improvisation
reveals problems with (b), because the performance-event and the
performance-type are distinct but equally proper aesthetic objects.
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