Help this budding Classical audiophile

pick up copies of mendelssohns,beethoven's and brahm's violin concertos.performers such as heifetz,perlman,vengerov and newcomer hilary hahn have excellent recordings.there are many others,but start with these as they are among the best.

When swimming in the ocean of the classical repertoire it is impossible to drown. (Well, maybe avoid Wagner's Rhine and Valkyres at first, but, eventually, they will snare you!)

You seem to be residing at the moment in the Classical pond with Herrs Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart, etc. By the way, Haydn does have 104 symphonies and many string quartets. It is now possible to hear this music in recordings employing "original instruments" of the time as well as more modern interprations using standard instruments. So, there alone, you have a large chunk of sea.

Maybe to give yourself a bit of variety, swim on over to the late-Romantic epoch and hear some of the great, overtly-emotional orchestral works by Richard Strauss, Rachmaninov, Sibelius, and Mahler.

About buying CDs, search for a good used-CD store close to your home. Don't limit yourself to any labels. Read up on classical performers and their work. Two magazines I would recommend are "Fanfare" and the British publication, "Gramophone". Don't take all their reviews at face value but there are some good smart recommendations to be had.

Forgive the "water" theme of this missive but I've been listening to various recordings of Debussy's "La Mer" recently and may be just too wet for my own good.

With best regards.

Even cheaper CD's --the public library. Depending on your population area, the offering would vary. In Indianapolis, the Classical CD collection is HUGE!

Gabbro, nice idea to include music in baroque style, particularly since the request was for "emotional" music. It is often overlooked the resource of emotional music that is baroque.

Some of the best performances you may ever hear are live performances broadcast in the mid to late evening on NPR and college stations. They would include subscription concerts of some of the top orchestras, festivals, the show "Perfomance Today" and others. Generally, these broadcasts are better than many CD's, both in audio quality (no weird mixing and studio reverb) and also in artistic quality.

The price is right. Through radio broadcasts and public library recordings you can discover more about what you like.

Classical music can be immensely rewarding. The treasures are as vast as the ocean. As far as Classical, I'm a "lifer."

Agreed. use the library. Lots to choose from there.

Fatparrot.... When I play my violin (no CD involved) it tends to sound "harsh, scratchy, or screechy". Maybe that's just a characteristic of the instrument. Violas, and cellos are smoother.