mystery

I like a work to be a labyrinth -- one should be able to lose oneself in it. A work whose course reveals itself completely at one hearing is flat and lacking in mystery. The mystery of a work resides precisely in its being valid at many different levels. Whether it be a book, a picture, or a piece of music, these polyvalent levels of interpretation are fundamental to my conception of the work.

-- Pierre Boulez, quoted in Visions and Voices by Jonathan Cott