Richard Tsuyuki writes:

>In expanding my music collection lately (it's still pretty basic), I
>have noticed that, listening to different performances of the same work,
>I almost invariably prefer the one I heard first and am most familiar with.
>The preference seems to persist even after repeated listenings of the
>"newer" performance.  This sort of bothers me, as it seems to imply a
>kind of conservative narrowmindedness that I didn't know I possessed.

I think it's natural to have a 'warm spot' for the first recording we
hear/own of a great piece of music.  At the same time, you don't want to
cut yourself off from other interpretations which might be very rewarding.

My advice is to listen to the first recording and an alternative one.
Try to figure out what elements you prefer about the first recording in
regards to features like tempo, rhythmic pulse, projection, degree of
legato/angularity, expressiveness, sound quality, etc.  Once you break it
down, you might find that the first recording does not strike you anymore
as being all that superior to the alternatives.

That's exactly what happened in my situation concerning Schiff's recordings
of the Goldberg Variations and Inventions/Sinfonias.  Schiff was my first
for both works, and I loved his performances thorougly.  Subsequently, I
made immediate comparisons with other versions and ended up not thinking
very well of the Schiff performances.  If you keep an open mind and make
comparisons on a micro-scale, you'll likely be able to break through the
warm feeling about the first recording and apply better criteria which
still reflect *your* musical preferences.  In the end, that first recording
will probably still have a little extra worth to you since it was the
first, but it won't possess the dominant position it once had.  Of course,
there's always the possibility that the first recording is the best for
your tastes and should retain the top level.  The example for me of that
situation is Raymond Leppard's EMI version of Mozart's Great Mass in C
minor.  It was my first, and every single alternative is much less
enjoyable.  I've done the comparisons, made the micro-analyses, and
concluded that first is best this time.

Don Satz
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