Why don't we leave it alone Paul? After all, there is an inherent contradiction in the sentences: "my piano teacher thought I was exceptionally talented" and "I cannot read or write notes much"...
I have to agree with Dan on his point regarding the lushness of HS, which I covet sometimes when I write appropriate tracks for it. However, wouldn't that be a matter of plug-ins rather than of the original sampling? Couldn't one create settings - say on Vienna Suite, to get or approximate that kind of sound?
I wouldn't call the flagship of orchestral libraries a "cast off, falling behind the times", simply because on this aspect alone it faces some competition which seems to be faring better for some people. The standard of comparison should not be the successful symphonic emulation of the puerile orchestral collages that are currently in vogue in one particular place on the planet (no matter how lucrative financially) and in vogue with non-musicians for the most part, but the emulation of Brahms, Mahler, and Xenakis (C. Kardeis - or was it Andi? - has managed to create some very convincing modern demos, considering that there aren't too many such articulations available in the VSL as yet).
If everybody followed the ooberman paradigm, we would have no library, no means through which we could compose our concert music, test that music for ourselves, be able to send a recording along with a score to potential conductors, or score a film in any other way than the one favoured by ex-DJs and techno-producers. The linear chronological approach is not very apt in my opinion, as there are a lot of young people around who use orchestral libraries in various ways for various purposes. If pre-plainchant monotony is the spiral downward way that Hollywood has chosen to pave, so be it. Just because this is happening now, that doesn't necessarily make it progressive, right, or universal.