Gesture

One of the most important aspects of music is gesture. This is closely related to rhythm. A musician can play all the right notes and sound bad. Conversely, a musician can miss some notes but still create a convincing performance. What is the difference?

When I attended the Cliburn piano competition in 2010 3 or 4 pianists played the Lizst b minor sonata. My favorite performance was not note perfect. The most technically accurate was not very exciting to listen to.

Here is Rubinstein talking about playing Chopin's Winter Wind etude. "Not one right note!"

See also the 5 principles