Look through Gramophone magazine, pick the cutest lil chick you can find, and buy her record. Then just let nature take its course....
There's no shortage of PYTs with violins these days.
You live 15 miles from the best classical FM station in the country. 24/7 music, rating about 7 on the scale of good sophisticated hard core after 8pm mixed with the obligatory dentist office and volvo driving easy listening during the day. No friggin NPR news either. One DJ is on in afternoon drive time, we call her "THE WAIF" because she plays the faggiest dainty woosy music to make you puke. WCPE 89.7, check it out especially on Sunday night when they play only new releases on a show called Preview. These tend to be the best recordings by the hottest new artists with the biggest budgets for promotion. Some really good stuff on that show. This Sunday they will interview Simone Dinnerstein, very hot rising star (and cute). I have a couple of her records of solo piano. One recording of hers proves that Beethoven invented "ragtime" in 1815.
Also their Saturday Evening Request Show lets listeners pick their favorites, and it is always 100% better than the boring shit the regular DJs play. The best versions of old favorites and warhorses. "dougs" on AC can advise you on a vintage tuner, he is in VA and has a huge collection of them. A small inside antenna will be enough for you to grab WCPE. It might even be on satellite radio now.
A common answer to the question is the
three B's: Bach, Brahms and Beethoven. Not everybody can hitch their wagon to these giants on first listen. We live in 2009, and our musical tastes are far removed from this old music, so it feels foreign at first. Bach is easiest of these three, and is the root of all modern Western music. Before Bach, music was very basic, like simple church music. He started the musical renaissance in Europe. I fell in love with Bach on first listen, back 30 years ago. For most of that time, I thought he was the only classical composer that was not a snobby prick. Turns out it was the pretentious arrogant performance style of the 70s and 80s that was turning me off. Now the younger musicians play much more to the actual score without the attitude, and the music is so much more fullfilling. Brahms I am new to, but his Violin Concerto is the most beautiful music that I own. Beethoven on the other hand..... Beethoven, ah yes... Beethoven... The greatest musician of the millenium.
There are some threads on AC (and probably many other places) about where to start in classical music, but they are all just the favorites of the advisor. There's really no way to ask someone else where you should start. You just decide you want in, then start listening for clues in everyday life. Pay attention when you hear classical instead of zoning out like it's background music. Classical is produced without compression and psycho processing so it doesn't jump into your brain without your permission, like modern music does. In the car you can barely hear what's going on unless it is compressed to hell, like WCPE does. But there is real nutrition in classical music that pays off over time. For the audiophile, reproducing tonally sophisticated acoustic instruments in acoustic space with lifelike dynamics is the ultimate challenge.
I started listening to classical seriously only in 2005. I got into audio just to be able to "hear it better." My HT was good enough for jazz and rock listening.
This record got me started, heard it on WCPE one night, bought it, loved it, bought more Dvorak, which led to 5 new directions, loved some of them, bought them, learned more, etc. Let your curiosity lead you. There is some really hard core weird stuff out there, nobody will tell you to start there, but that may the thing that hooks you. Schnittke, Bartok, Cage, actually they are pretty tame.
Of course you're welcome to come over and listen anytime. Bring GBs
I'll make some samplers for you when I think of something you might like.
