Bill Karzas wrote:

>Beware ...  of becoming so imprinted with these that any other
>performances will appear inferior because different from what is ingrained
>in you.  Their subtleties may appear as perversities.

I think that is not truth, Bill.  I had for many years my Beethoven's Ninth
Sym.  with Dr.  HvKarajan and BPO, and I ever had him as my favorite for
Beethoven Orchestral Music.  Once a friend of mine gave me a recording of
this Symphony (9#) with Leopold Stokowski and OSL, and in the first twenty
seconds all what I was used to "believe" about Karajan, BPO or the 9th were
absolutely broken on the floor.  Twenty seconds that changed all I ever
thought about Beethoven.  Comparing these and other recordings, Stokovski
is a Gulliver among Lilliputians, instead many of them are good (like
HvK,too) but not great.

The same happened with other changes I did in these last 14 years of
mellomania.  I changed Arrau's Beethoven (after 8 years) for Gilels's
(3 years) and for Kempff's and Schnabel's.  I changed Neville Marriner's
Mozart's Piano Concerts for Geza Anda's (with CAMozarteum) and many others.

Regards,
Renato Vinicius