Like your first kiss?

[Richard Mullany]

Today I played to cd's of the Berlioz "Te Deum", one by the Bavarian SO and company and the other by Dennis Keene and company. Both are good but decades after my first hearing it by Beecham on a Columbia release I find I still prefer it and it has been many years since I heard it last.
Is this phenomon, of preferring the first version over subsequent others, a fairly common thing for others as it is for me? My first exposure almost always seems to be the one I prefer. I'm not a trained musician or a shrink but it strikes me as odd that this bias should be so strong.
My first experience with Toscannini/ Beethoven was back in the late thirties. When he was given the NBC SO then I followed along and bought it all, by then on LP. When he was gone and stereo came along I really wanted something close to "Him". I asked the clerks at the old Liberty Music Shop, in Ann Arbor, as knowledgeable as any in the world in those days they said Solti and the CSO. I bought it and found it very satisfactory. When CD's came in I got the CD version.
Why do we want to stick with the memory of that "first time"?

[Lance]

Hi Richard:

I suppose it's because of the initial reaction we have in our brain and we never forget it. I certainly remember my "first kiss!" I was quaking in my boots, as they say.

The other thing about this is that usually your first thoughts are the best or most accurate. If one is taking a test and there are four choices, the one that you go to first is usually the correct answer (of course, not always).

I remember hearing Liszt's Mazeppa and Les Preludes the first time in the orchestral scores. Arthur Fiedler conducted the Boston Pops. To this day, these remain my favourite versions - after all it IS the Boston orchestra! And besides, Fiedler DID have a way with this music even though he may not have always been associated with HIGH classical music all his life. He was certainly brought up in those grand traditions.

[Ricordanza]

I've noticed this phenonemon, and so have others in this and other on-line groups. They refer to this as the "imprint version" of a piece. I could name numerous recorded versions that have stayed with me over the years, but I'll cite two live concert experiences instead: Vladimir Horowitz playing Liszt's "Vallee d'Obermann" (1966) and Alicia DeLarrocha playing the Bach-Busoni "Chaconne" (1971). Both were electrifying performances and, as my first experiences with these works, I have measured all others since against those standards.

[moldyoldie]

Notable "first kisses":

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony: Leonard Bernstein and New York Philharmonic on Columbia LP. No one's done it better - not Kleiber, not Toscanini, not Furtwängler, not no one!

Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture: Artur Fielder and Boston Pops on RCA LP.
Khatchaturian's Gayne Ballet Suite: Eugene Ormandy and Philadelphia Orchestra on Columbia LP. What's with all these Russian/Soviet orchestras and conductors, don't they know how it should be played?

[Wallingford]

Grieg's first Peer Gynt Suite.....Beecham 1 (w/LPO)
Grieg's Piano Concerto.....Entremont/Ormandy
Sibelius' Pohjola's Daughter.....Koussevitzky (absolutely NO ONE can match the devastation Dr.K. can have oozing from the final bars!!)
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.....Ormandy 3
Ravel's Alborada del Gracioso.....Ormandy 2 (w/the Phillies....his first was back in Minnesota)
Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite.....Fiedler 2

They're ALL still the standard for me.

[TopoGigio]

Ja,the FirstKiss,haa,,,,ah,in music,well, first,the NewWorldSymphony,
then a 9thBruckner! you can see,the devastating effects...
these are for the Last Kiss ! !!
I remember not interpreters...only music...

[keaggy220]

My first kiss was memorable because it was with a pretty little short haired blond high school cheerleader and I was so nervous that I dove in hard and smashed our teeth together. Luckily neither of us had braces, but it was still painful!

My first classical music kiss was Symphony #2, Ludwig van Beethoven Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell. This symphony seems to be low on most peoples list of LvB symphonies, but it remain dear to me.

[Corlyss_D]

Why do we want to stick with the memory of that "first time"?

Because it was either really the first time we heard a piece, and we were overwhelmed, or it was the first time we sat up and took notice of a piece we had heard before with little effect. Most of my old recordings that I hang on to and try to find CD copies of were from the time when everything was new to me and everything was a learning experience. I've left behind much of the music that impressed me greatly the first time I heard it, some I've left and returned to, like Grieg piano music, but some I've never strayed from, like Holberg Suite, Carmina Burana (which didn't used to be played nearly as much as it is today), the Play of Daniel, Monteverdi madrigals, Mozart's operas, Handel's Messiah in the legendary Davis recording, Handel operas, etc.

[TopoGigio]

The Play of Daniel

Contessa,You are the winner of the 25th Green RollingEyes Award!