Can you recommend some classical CD's for me?

Glen, two of my favorte ensembles that match your description of sound are The English Concert and The Academy of Ancient Music. Mostly Baroque, these two groups are primarily strings, smaller than orchestras, few if any vocals (I certainly haven't heard all of their works), and I enjoy listening to both very much. Sample online somewhere and see if you like 'em.

get this one: CONCERTI CON MOLTI STRUMENTI (vol.2) ANTONIO VIVALDI

Concerti RV 556 (2ème version), RV 557, RV 572 , RV 566, RV 576, RV 577 et RV 585.

Ensemble Matheus - Jean-Christophe Spinosi (violon et direction)

Pierre Verany

The box set of Beethoven: The String Quartets, played by the Emerson String Quartet. This stuff gets really intense!

Anything played by Arturo Delmoni... he's a great violinist. The CD, Songs My Mother Taught Me - is highly recommended.

Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, and Itzhak Perlman, performing Mendelssohn: Piano Trios - is really good stuff, too, and is a fairly new release. All of these are record extremely well, IMO.

If you really like cello, then check out Yo-Yo Ma, or Ofrah Harnoy... she's nicer to look at.

I would second Tobias' recommendation of the Bach Cello Suites by Martin Zeller. If I had to start someone off with just one CD of classical music performance that would be it.

All great recommendations above! I recently came across this contempory work by John (mahavishnu) McLaughlin. "Mediterranian Concerto" with the London Symphony Ochestra. The second half of the Cd consists of duos for guitar and piano. I like it VERY much, one to consider.