Next to the writer of real estate advertisements, the autobiographer is the most suspect of prose artists.

[Rubinstein was] a fountain from which music spouted, not a recitalist.

When her name is mentioned in the opera history books we will recall that vibrant, soaring tone-that and the blinding, high-beam-headlight smile that she flashed on her fans at each curtain call.

In her most taxing aria, "O patria mia," there were powerful reminders of the Price that we remember best and want to remember, a Price beyond pearls.

It might be argued that genuine spontaneity is not really possible or desirable so long as printed scores of great works exist. All modern musicians are, for better or worse, prisoners of Gutenberg.

The more disastrous the mishaps the simpler the reviewing task.