Remember me. The story behind the story (part 7)

The perfect works.

There are times when something can not be overcome or improved, and not even time or advances can bring better versions of something already existing... We all always have that creation, that work that occupies the first place in our preferences, I mean a book, a song, a movie, etc... The question is, Why? What is it that makes this work our favorite or, at least, that it is among our favorites?

Painting by Vladislav Nagornov
To me, this has happened to me many times and in different areas; I have noticed how some works that have enchanted me in the past, even today, are still the best for me. Time has not made me find any other work that would occupy its first place in my preferences... I call these works "perfect works" and they are creations that I still enjoy today as much as the first time I met them.
I want to tell you here what my favorite song is (what is for me, my "perfect musical work").
My first contact with it was when I was a child and I was beginning to be young.
At that time I enjoyed daily a radio audition that read passages of self-help books and interspersed these readings with musical works belonging to the genre new age. It was very common to listen to music from well-known artists such as Vangelis or Kitaro (to mention two of the most prominent).
All the style of that radial audition, as well as that music that passed, I liked very much; however, one day I heard a particular music that fascinated me (listening to it was immediately something special and different from the others).
Fortunately, whenever a music ended, the announcer said what it was about and that's how I got to know the album: Skyline firedance by David Lanz.
Every so often different songs belonging to the same album were emitted and every time I heard them they left me spellbound. A short time later I can buy a version of it to listen to all the songs whenever I wanted and how many times I wanted...

Painting by Vladislav Nagornov
Time passed and despite the years, even today is still my favorite work. I've always wondered why? Why has not another musical work occupied its place in my maximum preference? If I've already heard it so many times, if hundreds of new songs of the same genre have already come out, even from the same artist...
And after thinking about it for a long time I realized that the only possible answer is because Skyline firedance has a "soul" (not a soul like ours, of course, but the kind of soul that can have a work).  When listening to it, it is immediately perceived that this work has a "brightness", an "aura" that surrounds it and that was granted to it by its creator and its interpreters. The love that an artist feels for his work is reflected in it during the moment of its creation, it is the creators who endow their creations with that special "soul"... and that is why I emphatically insist that a person who is dedicated to art has to deeply love what he does and should not do art for any other reason, it is noticeable when it is like that and it shows a lot.
That unique and irreplaceable imprint that impresses the feelings of the creator to his work, endows it with a "soul" that can be perceived by other souls (and this time I speak of human souls).

When the artist does a work that he considers will be the pinnacle of his career, the best he can do, putting his whole soul into it, even in the smallest detail... at that moment he creates a work for posterity, a "perfect work", which will never be surpassed by any other.

Painting by Vladislav NagornovUnfortunately, nowadays this is something more and more difficult to find... This can be seen a lot in the film industry. It is very common to see how the first film in a saga is very good and the following ones fall in level (sometimes abruptly) and they reap negative criticism, of those that were once their "fans".
It happens with the series too, that as soon as it is changed to its original scriptwriters by others, they no longer have that special and intangible style that it had before (I do not want to cite examples because I am sure that each of you already has your own), the series loses its grace, sometimes it becomes silly and its followers keep seeing it for simple "inertia"... but no longer for pleasure.
Commercialism, unfortunately, can ruin art in any of its forms (music, literature, cinema, etc...). When the artistic work becomes a product, it ceases to be something inspired, to become a mere commercial trap that only seeks to squeeze, at all costs, the franchise in question.
That's why I do not write one novel after another; I enjoy the pleasure of writing (I seek my inspiration when I write) and leave my soul in my pages, with the sole purpose of doing my best work... and that is Remember me, is my "perfect work".
I do not want to end this post without commenting that I have done it by adding these beautiful paintings by one of my favorite artists Vladislav Nagornov since his art is present in many mental images that are part of my inspirational moments when writing and also share a video where you can enjoy a passage of what is the wonderful Skyline firedance. It is composed of 21 songs in total and here I leave one of them: