Walter Meyer wrote:

>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?

I believe there is.  Not so much preferring, as finding easier to digest.
A baby finds a puree of pre-enzymed (semi-digested) material easier to
absorb than rognons flambes.

The majority of human ears, since Greek times, have found certain intervals
easier to digest than others.  (They tend to fall in line with natural
harmonics, but let's not get too deeply into that one!) Just look at early
Mozart vs.  late Mozart - early = easily digestible, late = surprising
(sorry for being simplistic).

I am not saying one prefers Webern to Satie; just that Satie will fall
easy on most ears, Webern will not - purely based around human acoustic
responses.

It's like going to a performance by the Suweto String Quartet.  It
is immediately enjoyable; but then you move on to the Emerson, the
Chilingirian, or so many of the other greats you see why you found your
first tastes a little unsophisticated, even if still enjoyable.  Whatever
we do, we tend to get more sophisticated, complex, in our appreciation
patters, without necessarily snubbing the simpler versions.

It is rare for a primate to "de-sophisticate" (e.g.  moving from tone row
to early Baroque).  It is just that we then appreciate the "simpler" styles
with more elaborate ears.

I should add that easier does not always mean earlier.  Whereas I, and a
few others, have found the choice of Wozzek to be a little contentious, it
does not mean that we find Hildegard von Bingen necessarily a lot easier.

For somebody really coming new to classical music, I would not necessarily
suggest going back to a musical vocabulary completely strange to our time.
For example, Stravinsky Firebird should be accessible to anybody who has
listened to any kind of music on the radio for the last 20 years; but Agon
might be a different matter!

I would still contend that some of the choices on the initial list (all of
which are worth listening to) are not the first ones to buy; borrow, beg,
steal yes; buy later!

Christopher