The Sound More Than "The" Music

Looking both forward and back on a lifetime of music I realize that what continues to fascinate me was/is not music in the abstract, or even as passed down on a printed page with the name of a composer on it.  Rather it is very specifically sound itself.

First the sound of the neighbor's spinet that I played as a toddler.
Later, the sounds of cadences in Mozart sonatas.
Then, at some critical point, the sound of Artur Rubinstein playing the piano.
At another critical point, the sound of Mieczyslaw Horszowski playing the piano.

I didn't want to miss any small part of it--whatever made those specific magics was what I needed to pursue.  It's not a question of what I do, but rather of who I am. 

No compliment means more to me than someone who responds to my sound.