[log in to unmask] writes:

>Is there any reason to believe that the person would start by preferring
>the earlier composer and work him or herself up to the later ones?

No, I don't think so.  Some friends of mine who have been introduced to
'serious music' in adulthood have found contemporary music more immediately
involving than music of the past.  One in particular at her first concert
aged 30 something, was riveted by Birtwistles 'Secret Theatre' but it has
taken many years for her to learn to appreciate Mozart.

Paul Silverthorne