Looking for a guide to best classical recordings

fan reviews on amazon are extremely good

"Best" will vary from one person to another. Is a scratchy old recording of a violin concerto played by Fritz Kreisler better than a state of the art SACD by Hilary Hahn? Opinions differ. You should buy a few recommended recordings, and keep track of how you feel about (1) The performers, particularly soloists and (2) the audio quality of the recording. Don't think that there is only one way to perform a particular piece. There is huge lattitude for interpretration, and you should learn your own tastes and follow that when you buy more recordings.

For new releases, check out www.classicstoday.com.

I have three books recommending classical recordings. They almost never agree. There is no such thing as a definitive recording, and there's no one right way to play Beethoven.

So don't get hung up on looking for the "best." Instead, buy cheap and in quantity. (The Naxos label was made for people like you!) This will give you a chance to decide what you like and don't like, which is far more important than the (nonexistent) consensus of the critics. When you find composers or styles or periods or genres that you like, buy more of it.

The one thing a guide might be helpful for at your stage of the game is in choosing the pieces, rather than the recordings. For that, I'd recommend buying the guide with the *fewest* entries!

Classic Digest. NPR also publishes a pretty good book if you are starting a collection, but as Bomarc says there is rarely agreement on these things from one book to another.