Best single volume guide to classical music

If you are looking for recommendations for not just pieces, but good recordings of those pieces, I recommend “1,001 Classical Records You Must Hear Before You Die.”  It is organized chronologically by date of composition and covers early, pre-renaissance to 21st century music.  I like the examples chosen for each era and the specific recordings are also quite good.  The balance of selections-between large scale, chamber, solo, choral and vocal works is reasonable.

I haven’t actually read this type of book in decades, so any recommendation I might make will be outdated and perhaps unavailable.  Martin Bookspan had a book that I used in the seventies, and I saw a copy in a used bookstore a bit back.  You might try a college bookstore and see what they have in the music appreciation section 

I would start with something simple, then go for ’best’.

https://www.google.com/search?q=guide+to+classical+music&rlz=1C1JSBI_enUS1081US1081&oq=guide+to+clas&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBggBEEUYOTIHCAIQABiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIGCAUQRRg8MgYIBhBFGDwyBggHEEUYPKgCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Maybe not exactly what you’re looking for but “Year of Wonder, Classical Music For Every Day” by Clemency Burton-Hill presents a classical work each day with a back story. There is a companion playlist (unfortunately on Spotify). 

Funny that you pose this question as I am looking at what I have been using as I read your post. In any event you may want to check out Penguin Guide to the 1000 Best Classical recordings.  What I have is a 2011 version so perhaps there is a newer version.  The penguin guides used to be very well regarded but now the older versions are dated unless you collect records in which case they still would be useful.