classical newbie

If you want SACD, look for the Pentatone collection boxes.

http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/7466

I would get the period instrument Beethoven 9-symphony box set by conductor Jos Von Immerseel --- it is the greatest music ever written, is very well recorded and sounds simply stunningly good, and is exquisite in every way. Also, the 5 Beethoven piano concertos, again on period instruments by Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music is as well stunningly well recorded and is of great music performed impeccably. Bruckner's 8th Symphony by conductor Gunter Wand is as well extraordinary in performance and sound. Finally, a label to look at that uniformly has outstanding sound is BIS. Find a piece you like and see if the BIS label has a recording --- that is, if sonics are the primary concern.

Enjoy.

There are several record labels known for high quality sound for Classical music; look for Decca, Naxos, Teldec, Telarc, Chesky (uses their own proprietary system for remastering great performances), Chandos, harmonia mundi (France) and Philips to name a few.

For essentials with outstanding sound, I highly recommend a Tchaikovsky collection of Symphonies 4, 5, 6 on Decca (Valery Gergiev/Vienna Philharmonic), "Berlioz: Orchestral Works"...Colin Davis/London Symphony on Philips (ADD) and includes "Symphonie fantastique."

Essentials also include Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos," Mozart's symphonies and concertos, anything Haydn, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Beethoven. The Amazon reviews are very helpful.

There are excellent sounding Beethoven box sets such as Daniel Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin on Warner, Zinman and the Zurich Tonhalle on Arte Nova... 2 very different interpretations of LvB. For Brahms, look at Guilini's "Brahms: The Complete Symphonies" on Newton Classics.
For the best in sonics look for Paavo Jarvi's Beethoven; SACD-DSD on RCA Red Seal.

Also if looking for great sounding SACD, there's Michael Tilson Thomas/San Francisco Symphony on their own label, SFS Media.

I was happy to see this thread topic because I have suddenly become drawn to classical music myself. I don't know if it is a product of aging like balding or thre disease du jour "low T".
Lowrider 57 thanks for the recommendations, but I didn't understand all of them. e.g.
"excellent sounding Beethoven box sets such as Daniel Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin on Warner, Zinman and the Zurich Tonhalle on Arte Nova... 2 very different interpretations of LvB."
Beethoven box sets of which music, I just ordered 2 version of the 9 symphonies in box sets. What is the LvB? Thanks for any replies.

Mechans...LvB is the great Ludwig van Beethoven. I see now it was not a very coherent statement, but I was saying that there are many affordable box sets containing all 9 symphonies. Many conductors will record the complete Beethoven Cycle with a particular orchestra; he may be the Principle Conductor of the orchestra or a Guest Conductor and the record label will package them into a box set.

Daniel Barenboim's style is a slow, romantic interpretation of Beethoven, whereas David Zinman performs Beethoven at faster tempi which closely resembles the way the composer intended the piece to be performed. (by using the tempo and metronome markings written into the score).

That's why I own about 10 different cycles of Beethoven; each conductor has his own interpretation, also some utilize a large orchestra, some use a small ensemble which is more historically accurate to the period in which it was written.