# Imprinted on the wrong...hmm... thing...



## vmartell (Feb 9, 2017)

I am always very apprehensive of being silly - so I am more of a thread responder than a thread starter... however - I am currently spinning Ravel's orchestration of Pictures At An Exhibition, Living Stereo, Classic Records reissue of the shaded dog release... a marvelous release (btw, thinking I should post that to the "Currently Listening on Vinyl" thread....

That said - listening to the piece, always causes the same reaction in me - you see, the first time I ever heard that piece was in Tomita's version! And of course, I loved it - it is a relatively complete and faithful interpretation - only thing (if you don't know it) it's that it has been re-orchestrated for synthesisers... So I "imprinted" on that recording - Nowadays, many (err... well) years later, every time I spin the orchestral version... I am missing the synths, sound effects, echo, etc... 

One more - the Enigma Variations... first time I heard and fell in love with that piece was... THE LEONARD BERNSTEIN recording!  - haha 

Now, EVERY version of that piece sounds TOO fast !!!!  hehe - again imprinted on a weird (wrong? - up for discussion) version...

Have you fine people experienced anything like that?

Thnx!

v


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The famous organ tune from Saint-Saens' organ symphony was used as the main melody in a #1 hit in the late seventies in the Netherlands (_If I had words_). When I started listening to classical music around 1986, the Saint-Saens was among my first CD's. I could not listen to it without my mind adding the lyrics of the hit in my head. Still can't.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I was imprinted on Skrowaczewski's Bruckner. I took all of his syphonies for a one month trek in Nepal as basically the only classical music (he was my entry point for classical music) and in Nepal, there is not much to do at night, just to crawl into your sleeping bag (there is not heating) and to listen to music. So I listened to all his symphonies over and over again every night for a month. Since that time, every other Bruckner sounds somewhat wrong to me. The only comparable that I found is Celibidache.

Generally speaking, I feel that most listeners get imprinted on romantic music, and then have a difficult time to adjust to different aesthetics such as baroque music, which is a pity. The romantic music pushes emotions into your face and can be likened to sweet food. And once children get used to eat a lot of sweets, they have a hard time eating less sweet food, although it might be healthier. You can break this imprinting but it takes time and effort.


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## vmartell (Feb 9, 2017)

Oh G*d, I forgot one more - Messiah!

I imprinted on... The Ormandy recording with Philadelphia and the Mormon Tabernacle choir! And it was the only version I heard for years - so now anything else, including relatively beefy non-HIP versions sound anemic!  hehehe - HIP versions sound like chamber music to me!  - The only other version that satisfies is Beecham's !  hahaha

V


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## vmartell (Feb 9, 2017)

Jacck said:


> And once children get used to eat a lot of sweets, they have a hard time eating less sweet food, although it might be healthier. You can break this imprinting but it takes time and effort.


Indeed - Although my case was the other way around - As a very young one, I imprinted on baroque music as I appreciated the rhythmic drive and relative emotional austerity of it - romantic music reminded me of the soundtracks of the old movies my parents watched - and of course, as a rebellious youngster, I did not want to like anything my parents liked!

It took a bit, including a weird period of "nothing older than Beethoven" that lasted for years.... These days I think I found my balance...

v


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## fliege (Nov 7, 2017)

Jacck said:


> Generally speaking, I feel that most listeners get imprinted on romantic music, and then have a difficult time to adjust to different aesthetics such as baroque music, which is a pity. The romantic music pushes emotions into your face and can be likened to sweet food.


I think I have the opposite problem. I started with baroque and I find much of the romantic period overly melodramatic. I listen to it anyway, but I sometimes find it unconvincing.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> The famous organ tune from Saint-Saens' organ symphony was used as the main melody in a #1 hit in the late seventies in the Netherlands (_If I had words_). When I started listening to classical music around 1986, the Saint-Saens was among my first CD's. I could not listen to it without my mind adding the lyrics of the hit in my head. Still can't.


How strange - I thought I'd heard that Saint-Saens melody before! Never realised this till now.


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## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

vmartell said:


> Oh G*d, I forgot one more - Messiah!
> 
> I imprinted on... The Ormandy recording with Philadelphia and the Mormon Tabernacle choir! And it was the only version I heard for years - so now anything else, including relatively beefy non-HIP versions sound anemic!  hehehe - HIP versions sound like chamber music to me!  - The only other version that satisfies is Beecham's !  hahaha
> 
> V


Go Beecham Messiah! I love it. No doubt purists cringe at it


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Our early imprinting in classical music is, I believe, a very powerful phenomenon in our enjoyment and needs to be factored into any discussion of our Favorite or "The Best" recordings of whatever. I wore out early vinyl LP versions of many pieces of CM, and it was with a feeling of ecstasy that I would discover reissues of same on CD......


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I used to imprint on the first version of a work that I liked but although I still have a soft spot for some of my "first recordings of ..." I don't get imprinted any more.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> The famous organ tune from Saint-Saens' organ symphony was used as the main melody in a #1 hit in the late seventies in the Netherlands (_If I had words_).


I wasn't aware of that. Thanks to YouTube, I can get out my boogie shoes.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Imprinting on one's first recorded performance is not uncommon -- especiially if you listen to it a lot. But that makes it all the more special when you reach the stage that you can listen to another performance and hear something in it or get something (even a detail) out of it that you didn't get before and intrigues. I impriinted on Stravinsky's own (very good) recording of Petroushka with the Columbia Symphony and always thought that was the way it went-- then once heard the Boulez/NYPO recording and it was like someone had taken Windex to the score! I still like both, but the revelation was remarkable.


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## Buxtehude (Jun 14, 2018)

I heard Yes's version of Brahms #4 before a "real" recording. It actually helped me understand it when I heard the orchestral version of this movement

Also, in my early teens, I overplayed a scratchy LP "The Sound of Wagner" Erich Leinsdorf. There was a skip in Siegfried's Funeral March and I hear it every time I listen to any version of this.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I can't listen to Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries without singing "Kill the Wabbitt..."


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Buxtehude said:


> I heard Yes's version of Brahms #4 before a "real" recording. It actually helped me understand it when I heard the orchestral version of this movement


.

I wasn't aware of that one. Wow, it's really Brahms' 4th, not like that crazy A Fifth of Beethoven.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I mentioned my best example a couple of days ago in the thread on Schubert's Quintet in C - the Heifetz/Piatigorsky recording. 39 minutes.


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

There's a piece from the Water Music (Alla Hornpipe from BWV349) that I first heard in a TV commercial of a UK water company. Since then that piece has never sounded right to me in any recording... :lol:

That's special case. Often the imprinting was so strong it took years for me to be able to appreciate other performances. 

My first Beethoven 5 was Bernstein/Vienna. My next were Karajan (so rushed!) and Klemperer (so sluggish!). Took me years to appreciate their respective qualities. 

Another example is Rubinstein's Chopin. The imprinting again was so strong that when I heard Argerich and Pogorelich, even the late Cherkassky, I thought what juvenile delinquents! But after so many years nowadays these are some of my favourite Chopin pianists.


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