Richard Tsuyuki:

>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.  It might
>even be worse than having no preference whatsoever.  Has anyone else been
>afflicted in this way? Any pointers on the kind of listening that might
>open my ears a little more?

The phenomenon is known as "imprinting." I wouldn't worry about it.  It
may very well be that you heard, for you, the best performance first.  In
other words, the performance attracted you to the work.  I'd worry if the
performance turned you off to the work.  In that case, seek out other
performances.

In my experience, I've heard very few life-changing performances, and most
of those live rather than recorded.  Most performances of everything tend
to cluster - they don't differ that much.

Steve Schwartz