What was the first work which made you buy a second recording?

[BachQ]

Not sure but it could have been Elgar's Cello Concerto.

I find the whole inquiry to be rather an enigma .........

[Renfield]

It probably was Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto with me, as well. But the work that really made me appreciate the tremendous importance of vastly different interpretations was Mahler's 2nd symphony (the first Mahler symphony I heard): between the Klemperer, which I bought first, the Walter, which I bought second, and the DG Bernstein, which I bought third, there was a vast chasm of a difference in interpretative approach!

[MishaK]

Most probably Symphonie fantastique.

[dirkronk]

I remember precisely. It was the Beethoven Symphony #6, purchased in my early classical newbie days. It was the late '70s and DGG had come out with a budget edition of Karajan's '63 set, presumably because the new HvK set was out at full price, and I bit. This was my first Beethoven cycle...actually, my first purchase of any classical box set. Most of the performances were fine or better than fine, so it's not like I didn't get my money's worth. BUT I had fallen in love with the excerpts of the 6th featured in movie Soylent Green, and the one piece I'd specifically purchased the set to hear--the Pastoral--was an utter disappointment. I didn't like the pacing, the phrasing, what I characterized as the "blenderized" textures...hell, I didn't really like anything about it. (Still don't, truth be told.) So I purchased the Bruno Walter/Columbia Symphony and essentially found everything I'd been missing; to this day, that's still my favorite. Of course, it didn't stop me from buying twenty or more other versions over the following years, looking for better interps and/or sonics. I found some that I liked almost as well, and a number that are sonically superior, but none that I love better than the Walter. FWIW.

Cheers,

Dirk

[Renfield]

As far as I know, the Karajan/BPO 1963 Beethoven 6th was probably the worst Pastoral Karajan recorded, Dirk. And that's coming from a die-hard Karajan fan, here.

[val]

With me, it was Beethoven. The 7th Symphony. It was one of my first LP. Josef Krips conducting the LSO. Boring, without nerve, no dynamic ... well, it was Krips. I had to buy another recording, providing it was not very expensive. So I bought Erich Kleiber conducting the Concertgebow Orchestra. It seemed another work.