We all know what Romantic music is. Even romantic music. But what does it mean to play it romantically? “The distinction is not trivial, for it is possible to play any kind of music—including the intensely subjective music of such romantic-era composers as Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt—in an infinite number of ways, some of which do not sound “romantic,” just as it is possible to “romanticize” the music of pre- and post-romantic composers. Yet the music itself remains unchanged, even when it is being performed in what we may perceive as an un-idiomatic way.”