Thrift store vinyl is a good gateway into classical music. You can often get great stuff for practically nothing. If you don't have a turntable, it's a good excuse to get one. Classical sounds better on vinyl anyway IMO.
Issac Stern's recording of Mendelssohn's Concerto in E Minor for Violin and Orchestra and Beethoven's Two Romances with the Boston Symphony (conducted by Seiji Ozawa) is one of my favorites that I discovered that way.
I'm sure you'll get plenty of "serious" recommendations from this thread, but Wendy (formerly Walter) Carlos' Switched on Bach (Bach performed on Moog synthesizers) is great fun.
Issac Stern's recording of Mendelssohn's Concerto in E Minor for Violin and Orchestra and Beethoven's Two Romances with the Boston Symphony (conducted by Seiji Ozawa) is one of my favorites that I discovered that way.
I'm sure you'll get plenty of "serious" recommendations from this thread, but Wendy (formerly Walter) Carlos' Switched on Bach (Bach performed on Moog synthesizers) is great fun.