The thing I like most about music is that it can express things that we don’t have other ways of expressing. You could talk to me all day about a Beethoven Symphony, for instance, but until I hear it I’ll have no idea what you are talking about. Once I hear it maybe some of what you said will make sense, but it won’t have said what the music itself communicated.
As for individual expression of the performers, I’m not as much in to that. The music seems robust, in terms of who plays it and what instrument quality, what system it is reproduced on. It’s otherwise uncommunicable message can come across through any musician of reasonable skill to hit the right notes on time.
I’m not saying that I’m listening to music right, and other are wrong. There’s nothing better or worse about focusing on the talent of the musician, or the excellence of the system. I take note of exceptional talent, and exceptionally good sounding playback equipment. I think it has worth. But it doesn’t come first for me. Strangely, I can often get more deeply drawn in to a piece while I’m struggling to learn to play it, or listening to someone else trying to learn it. I used to lay on the floor while my sister practiced piano, mesmerized by the development of the piece as she got better and better each time through.