Well, to be breif the classical situation dissapoints me.  There are som many great songs, but there is no way to listen to them.  Ride of the Valkrie, Moonlight Sonata, Vesti la Giubba, Flight of the Bumblebee and the list goes on.  The frustrating part, is you hear this stuff on commercials, games and on the radio*, but there is no way to buy a CD of it or even download it, since you don't even know what the song is!  Is there some site (samples) or collection like "now" for classical songs?

*I take that back, because the radio is just as useless as its visual counterpart.  Rock, Hip-Hop, classical?  None of it is any good on the radio.

Perhaps the "And now for something completely different" route would serve you well.  Try this:  Solo classical guitar>Artists>Manuel Barrueco, Julian Bream, John Williams (the guitarist, not the conductor), Paulo Bellanati and others.  Just be sure it's a SOLO CD, one guitarist, and not recorded with an orchestra.  There's a whole world of stuff out their in this category, and although it's termed "classical", it's not your ordinary music and quite possibly will contain much you've never heard before.

Why not listen to classical on the radio, note down the ones that appeal to you and buy them??  This way you have wasted no money, alternatively listen to it on you computer that way you can skip stuff you do not like..

Just a thought.


Sarah

I have a pretty wide collection & don't buy much in the way of music now so I don't know if I can be much help. If you know the title of a piece you like it's easy enough to do a search on Google or your favourite search engine. This way you can find the name of the composer/musician/orchestra. It's quite possible you will also like other stuff they've done.

Music is a very personal thing & nobody will have the exact same tastes as you. You're the only one who can make the decision. OK, the worst that can happen is buying a CD with only one piece that you really like. Listen to it for a while & you might begin to like it. This has often happened to me in the past & helped widen my own musical tastes.

Another way is to try Apex's suggestion & get a compilation of a certain type of music by various artists. These are often cheaper too.

Radio... Sorry, but it's been awhile since I've found anything good on the radio (Maybe with exception to some hip-hop artists musicians.) other than my morning show, Walton and Johnson.

Hagar, this makes me think. (Aint that a shock! ) No one said the CD I buy has to be 100% what-I'm-looking-for.  I know I like Beethoven and maybe Wagner, I'll look up info and styles about those on Pippin's handy little link!

Thanks everybody, I appreciate everybody's advice! While the issue isn't solved, I'm on the right track toward the solution!  Sadly though, I could've figured this out by myself, why is it that the most obvious of things must be pointed out to us?

Or at least that the way I am!

Words of wisdom (yeah right! ), but it's just such a hard habit to break!

... or go to a live concert! There are few places that there isn't something going on. And if you live close to a Great Metropolis, then there's even more going on. Pop, rock, classical - it all sounds better 'live'.

With recordings, the recommendation to listen to some 'greatest hits' recordings is how I started, N decades ago with LPs (remember those?)! Don't decry those dedicated 'classical' stations on the radio that are out there (I used to listen to WRTI in Philadelphia, and there's Classic FM in the UK), and they play mountains of popular stuff. For the dedicated, there's BBC Radio 3, available online also!