“The relation of the performance of music to sound is complex and ambiguous: this is what makes possible Mark Twain's joke that Wagner is better than he sounds.”

— Charles Rosen

Source: Piano Notes: The World of the Pianist (2002), Ch. 1 Body and Mind

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Charles Rosen 69

American pianist and writer on music 1927–2012

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“Wagner's music is better than it sounds.”

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