John La Grou wrote
"For most classical music recording, the goal is to
"document" a performance, with minimal electrical artifacts. For this
goal, one usually selects a relatively flat, dynamically stable
recording path known to produce relatively neutral recordings."

My point is that documenting a performance is an impossible recording
goal because the engineer will play what he has over his studio
monitors and modify the recording to adjust out what he doesn't like.
When he is satisfied with his product, we cannot hear what he heard
because our listening rooms are different from the engineer's studio,
not only in dimentions, but also in furnishings. The best recording
will be balanced to give a seemingly realistic reproduction in a large
variety of listening rooms.

A few years ago, I was with a couple of friends whom I hadn't seen in
over 20 years. We were discussing audio equipment. I expressed
pleasure with modern transisterized electronics. My friends were
still using their valved McIntosh equipment from the mid 1950s. I
said that CDs pleased me more than LPs and I found the sound of
transistorized electronics superior to tubes. I heard breath being
sharply drawn, I spied a McIntosh preamp on a shelf and realized that
I was in the Hall of the Old Believers.

Yes accurate sound is in the ear of the listener.

Jack Giefer