classical newbie

Tostado,

You have thrown down the guantlet. Yes, there are those here who listen to chamber music. To your suggestions I would add the Britten, Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Dvorak quartets, the Beethoven piano trios, the Brahms sextets-- shall I go on? Not sure I would start a novice out on the Debussy, Bartok or Borodin quartets, although Bartok 1 and 2 might be suitable.

Some modern ensembles to be considered--- The Pacifica and Belcea quartets are my two favorites among those still active. The Floristan trio has recently broken up, but they have a strong catalogue of modern recordings. I like their Beethoven trios a lot.

Then, there is the world of solo piano-----

Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra performed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner.

String quartets/quintets on the Naxos label is an inexpensive way for a newbie to explore chamber music. High quality DDD Redbook.

Thanks to you all. I think I'm going to buy a 15 cd Colin Davis collection I just read about in sterophile. Also a 55 cd collection from Decca that was on Amazon. Then some from your suggestions, which i think will be a good start. Thanks again.

Sorry to be late but, maybe, for the future. A 63CD collection of the complete recordings by Fritz Reiner and the CSO on RCA. It is on sale now at Arkiv Music for about $150 +/-. A great place to start both for performances and some vintage & excellent recordings still highly prized, especially in the LP versions for the sonics.