Walter Meyer writes concerning the hypothetical adult who gains hearing:

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

No. There's no reason to believe that any particular route would be taken
by this individual.  However, whatever the initial musical preferences
might be, they would likely undergo big changes as the individual
*develops* musical taste over the coming months and years.

I don't know why some of us want to start folks off with the warhorse
composers and works, particularly the romantic-era composers.  As I've
mentioned before, the desire to get into classical music likely has a
foundation of the person hearing something which creates the attraction to
classical music.  If that's a Zemlinsky string quartet, it would lead to
other works by Zemlinsky, works by composers of similar style, and perhaps
even string chamber works from other time periods.

Don Satz
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