A look into classical


I have very little in classical music. The local library has a lot of classical cd's available. Rather than taking the hit & miss approach are there some suggestions for me to get my feet wet? I do like what I have: Mozart "A Little Nightmusic"...1812 Overture...Nutcracker.

The Mozart disc really floats my boat of the 3.
muncybob
One approach would be to build on what you already have liked: Check out some Mozart symphonies, some of his string quartets, his operas. Do the same with Tchaikovski--there's a lot more to him than the two works you mentioned. You could also start listening to music from the same time periods as these two. Check out Haydn, Borodin, Brahms. Then look at a few composers from earlier periods, Handel, Bach, Telemann; or later, Beethoven (later than Mozart but before Tchaikovsky), Mahler, R. Strauss, Schoenberg.

Once you've got a few different selections under your belt, you might start noticing that you're gravitating towards string quartets, or symphonies, or whatever. You can then start looking at other recordings from the same performers you've been listening to and if you find things you like, then try others by the composers on those recordings.

Lastly, the hit-and-miss approach has a lot going for it. "Classical" music is such a huge genre that you might never make your way through even a small part of it if you are too systematic. It would be hard for Tchaikovsky to lead you to Percy Granger, Arnold Bax, or Rodrigo, but grab the occasional random CD and see what new vistas (if any) open up. Have fun!
Another approach is to use your computer- go to pandora.com and register. It's free, no worries.
Go to genres, classical and you can select what you want. Chamber???
Internet radio, without commercials. I have found this an excellent way to discover great music, then hit the stores.
Good luck.
Well since we don't really know what you would like, and apparently neither do you, IMHO recommendations would have a very limited value at this point in time.

What I suggest is that you check out from your library some 'compilation' CD's which have the most popular music of various composers. From these CD's you can find music that is appealing to you (actually specific pieces) and come back as ask from recommendations of composers/pieces to build on that particular recording/composer or style.