So much Bach, where do I start?

Everyone should have a set of the Brandenburg Concertos. Modern recording, but then again do you prefer modern or original instruments? There are two modern recorded original instrument recordings out currently. One by Trevor Pinnock and the other the Boston Baroque/Perlmann. If you like modern instruments then look for Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

For voices Bach's cantatas are a good bet. There are hundreds of these. Other than the above artist look for John Elliot Gardiner, Helmut Rilling, and Ton Koopman. There is also the B Minor Mass, St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion. It you want an overdose of Bach, Helmut Rilling is recording all of Bach's works in a mega CD set, The Complete Works of Bach. It will be hundreds of CDs. (Can be purchased in partial sets.)

I agree with Sugarbrie, particularly on the Pinnock recommendation for the Brandenburgs, my favorite for its vitality. Rilling's recordings are on the Hanssler label, pretty well recorded and fine interpretations. I suggest you get the Magnificat, an excellent vocal piece, and if you get adventurous, the Mass in B Minor, the toughest but most rewarding piece of music I've ever sung. The John Elliot Gardiner version of this piece is very good, on Archiv, though a little shrill at times (but then again, that's what Baroque trumpets sometimes sound like); I like it better than the Perlman on Telarc for interpretation, Telarc for sonics. Finally, try the four orchestral suites, plenty of variety within their movements; any of the above conductors mentioned by Sugarbrie probably has a good recording. Enjoy!

Yes, try the Orchestra Suites also. If not a somplete set, I think #2 is the most popular??

That one's my favorite; usually they're two to a CD. One more thing I just thought of, you might want to ease your way into Bach's keyboard music through Stokowski's orchestral transcriptions of some of those works (remember the opening Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor from the original Fantasia?). There was a very good Chandos recording of them years ago which I have on vinyl and may be available on CD, and Telarc had some of them on its The Stokowski Sound CD with Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops; I'm sure there are other versions available, as these were quite popular. Worth looking for, as they're a lot of fun.

I listen to the Brandenberg Cd's a lot, my issue was released by a mucical society (can't recall the name) and is on loan right now. I just picked up "The Art of Fugue", Bach's last piece and it was done by Rinaldo Alessandrini and is on Opus 111. I have been tempted to pick up other performances of the Brandenberg Concertos and have a music picker that just called with a Scottish or Irish performance (can't recall which) but will pick it up next weekend. I am also pretty new to classical music, but like anything else know what I like.