Starting a classical library is BMG an answer?

An emphatic yes. BMG offers an impressive selection of classical music and frequently has deals that work out to under $7 per CD with shipping. I have a very substantial collection of classical CDs, and they are still introducing new CDs of interest. Columbia House's CD club for classical music just went under, and for years they had a meager and pitiful selection of classical-crossover garbage. And also, the whole paranoia that BMG manufactured CDs are inferior to full-priced CDs is just plain false. I've done head-to-head comparisons and there is no difference.

For classical CD reviews, check out www.classicalstoday.com and the newsgroup on google rec.music.classical.recordings for advice on the best recordings.

For the best selection of classical CDs at a retail store, try: http://secure.mdt.co.uk/MDT_Exp/index_exp.htm

For wholesale and cut-out CDs try: http://www.berkshirerecordoutlet.com/

Classical music is a great hobby. It is terribly intimidating at first, but ends up with years of wonderful discoveries if you keep an open mind.

Enjoy,
Rob

i'm no pal to bmg but columbia house mostly carries an original versions of cds while bmg has only remanufactures i.e. typically cd-rom quality of pressing and recording if not worse. i realy try to avoid used cds with message "manufactured for bmg under licence..." since the quality is very different from the original version indeed.

FYI, Columbia House no longer carries classical music-- they've foisted all the classical memberships over to the Musical Heritage Society. BMG is a wonderful way to go. Naxos does offer some fine recordings at budget prices, but you have to be very careful-- the quality of performance and recording have improved greatly in recent years, but it's still deeply uneven, particularly for core repertoire, for which you''re almost always advised to stay with the major labels represented on BMG. For more out of the way stuff-- modern American, unusual chamber music, and particularly any and all of their guitar recordings-- Naxos can be terrific. Their piano recordings of the complete Mendelssohn, Messiaen, and Granados (with the exception of the "Goyescas") are competitive with the best.

The above is not true. The quality of the BMG pressings is not going to be different than the quality of an average mass-produced CD. The quality of individual plants can vary, but that's the case with all CDs and labels...not just the music clubs.

Don't worry about the manufacturing quality--that's a non-issue. If you can stand all the mailings, a mail-order club is a great way to get your feet wet. (I started my classical record collection with Musical Heritage Society 20-odd years ago.)

As for the quality of Naxos, there are bad performances on every label, and until you've really gotten into classical music, you're liable to pick up some dogs no matter how much you spend. So what? That's part of the learning curve. The great thing about Naxos is, it doesn't cost you much to experiment. And experimenting is exactly what you should be doing right now. Buy 'em by the fistful!