"first loves"

[repeat]

I wonder if any of you share my experience. I find that more often than not the first recording of a piece that I happened to get to know well in my youth set a standard of interpretation for me that has stayed with me ever since, and made me prone to reject any other interpretation as unmusical, uncomfortable,wrong or even repulsive.
Over the years I have grown to love many of these recordings so much that nothing else will really do. A small sample of my peculiar list of all time highs goes like this:

Beethoven “moonlight”sonata                      Horowitz
Beethoven op.31.no.2 & op.10 no.1      Pavel  Stepan
Beethoven 4th.            Rubinstein/ Krips
Beethoven 5th            Edwin Fisher/ Furthwaengler
Chopin  Fantasi Impromptu         Jose Iturbi
Chopin Mazurka op.7 no.3         Horowitz
Chopin Scerzos            Rubinstein
Chopin nocturne op.72 no.,1.         Horowitz
Chopin polonaise op.53 no.6         Rubinstein
Chopin noct. Op.9 no.1& op.27 no.2      Alexander Uninsky
Grieg piano concerto         Rubinstein /Wallenstein
Liszt piano concerto no. 1         Kempff/ Fistoulari
Liszt sonata h-moll            Eva Bernatova
Schumann piano concerto         Hans Richter Haaser/ Moralt
Shubert sonata D-960         Robert Riefling
And many more.

Now, I wonder, am I the only one, or are there many of you out there with  similar lists of personal favourites stemming from your first encounters or “first loves”?

[florestan9]

The same is true for me.  A few that come to mind --

Chopin Sonata no. 3 and Liszt Sonata - Anievas
Chopin Impromptus - Jon Nakamatsu
Chopin Ballades - Zimerman
Chopin Etudes - Arrau
All Beethoven Concerti - Ashkenazy
Appassionata and Pathetique Sonatas - Kempff
Waldstein - Arrau
Late Beethoven Sonatas - Brendel
Schumann Kreisleriana, Carnaval, and Papillons - Youri Egorov
Schumann Sym. Etudes and Kinderszenen - Cortot
Nearly all Liszt besides the Sonata - Bolet

For me, though, the "first recording standard" holds true even more for orchestral and operatic music than it does for piano.

[Tash]

totally agree! argarich's recording of chopin's barcarolle comes to mind, i'm seriously biased towards it. and going to concerts (of piano and all other genres) when they play something i've listened to before, sometimes they miss crucial details i loved in the recording, but that's individuality for you. however i've found the more recordings you regularly listen to, the more adapted i get (funny that) and stop caring about the differences.

[thorn]

Debussys' L'Isle Joyeuse and Clair de Lune performed by Weissenberg
Ravel- Ondine performed by Louis Lortie

these are the three that really stand out for me- no other performance of these pieces will (in my opinion) ever be up to such standard.

[avetma]

Chopin 2nd sonata and two polonaises (40/2, 44) - Pogorelich. I can't listen anyone except him on these pieces. So beautiful...

[burstroman]

Totally agree!
Fur Elise - Artur Schnabel
Rondo a minor (Mozart) Schnabel
Valses of Chopin - Dinu Lipatti
Concerto #1 (Liszt) - Arthur Rubenstein
Sinfonias (selected) Bach - Wanda Landowska
Concerto #1 (Bartok) - Rudolf Serkin
etc.

[elias89]

Chopin 2nd sonata and two polonaises (40/2, 44) - Pogorelich. I can't listen anyone except him on these pieces. So beautiful...

Pogorelich is unbelievable....

Ravel    Scarbo
Bach     English suite no.2
they would be also on my list

[pianistimo]

horowitz - chopin waltzes (my mom owned this and played it over and over)
john browning - beethoven piano concertos
glen gould - 24 preludes and fugues
cladio arrau - ? forget what it was that i had
pollini -chopin etudes
alicia delarochia - granados

[steve_m]

4

[ted]

Waller's "Blue Blackbottom", recorded when he was twenty-two, in an old church hall somewhere in New Jersey I think. I loved it forty years ago and I love it still. It has a drive and intensity I have never heard in any other piano music of any genre, classical or modern, before or since. It was my first realisation that rhythm is capable of expressing profoundly serious musical thought. I had previously associated such sentiments with the great European masters, Beethoven, Chopin and so on, and the revelation tore apart the fabric of all my previous musical aesthetic.

[bella musica]

Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 3 performed by Martha Argerich.  I love the shimmering quality she imparts to the music.  Other recordings I have heard since just seem dull and plodding.

[rapmasterb]

I listened to Vladimir Krainev's recording of Chopin's Ballade No. 4 (on classical archives) and ever since any recording sounds AWFUL. It's my favourite piece but I hate listening to any other recording and it's probably not even that good!

[alejo_90]

Bach - Toccata and Fuge in D minor - Ton Koopman
Bach - Violin Concertos - Don't remember interpreter !
Bach - Goldberg Variations - Gould 1982
Bach WTC I and II - Richter
Beethoven - Pathétique, Appassionata, Tempest, Moonlight, Waldstein, Les Adieux, Pastorale sonatas - Gilels
Beethoven 4th (piano Concerto) - Arrau-Davis
Beethoven 5th (    "    "      ) - Gilels-Ludwig
Beethoven Symphonies - Toscanini
Chopin - Polonaises - Ashkenazy
Chopin - Scherzos & Ballades - Rubinstein
Chopin - Etudes - Pollini
Chopin 1st - Gilels
Liszt Gnomenreigen - Arrau
Liszt - Second HR - Dichter
Liszt Piano Concertos - Zimerman
Liszt Sonata - Gilels 40's
Liszt TEs - Bolet
Mozart 23rd - Horowitz-Giulini
Mozart Sonatas - Schiff
Rachmaninoff 3rd - Horowitz-Reiner
Rachmaninoff 2nd - Richter-Wislocki
Rachmaninoff Preludes - Ashkenazy
Tchaikovsky 1st - Gilels-Reiner
Tchaikovsky 2nd - Gilels-Bernstein
Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen - Janowski

And a lot more...

Best
Alex

[ravel]

That has happened so often with me.... i will lose count if i start..

[franz_]

I agree also. But I try to be as open minded as possible when I hear new recordings. And sometimes I hear fantastic things to. Why would only be Rubinstein good in Chopin? The most of Chopin that I have is played by him, but when I hear other pianists play, I can discover new things, new ideas, and it can be very helpfull and interesting. I had this for example with Hamelin, when I discovered him I felt such a great sence and taste of music, and sometimes better than my 'standard' recordings.