I am attempting to broaden my bourgeoisie taste in music. What is some good clasical music that you all would recommend? And please, be specific. While I’m sure that all of Mozart’s work is great, there is simply too much of it for me to be able to disseminate!
try **4 last songs ** by Strauss. beautiful piece of music. be careful though, theres about 5 or 6 versions of it (different composers/orchestras etc), and theres 2 strausses.
the one with a yellow band across the top of the CD covers the version i have, and its excellent.
sorry i cant be more specific, but you get the idea
paulberserker, you may have a Deutsche Grammophon recording. They’re famous for (usually) employing the instantly-recognizable yellow cartouche on the covers of their albums; have done for many years. Unfortunately, they’re doing away with that these days, trying to make their CDs more “hip” and marketable, I guess. I think most of their covers look really awful now.
My own DG recording of the Four Last Songs (Richard, not Johann btw) is with Gundula Janowitz singing and Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. I like it a lot, but his interpretation isn’t for everybody.
Here is the recording I’ve got, incidentally.
While I’m posting again, I may as well ask: liirogue, can you more specifically define what you’re looking for? I’m not sure if you’re using “classical” to describe the particular period, or if you’re using it in the kind of catch-all manner for anything with orchestral instruments or voice that it has come to mean. Do you want lighter fare, or heavy, brassy, and swashbuckling? Voice or no voice? Tonal or atonal?
I want to leave it open except for vocals to be kept to a minimum.
You’ll probably get dozens of opinions, but here are some that I think are well worth seeking out:
Beethoven: Symphonies 5, 7, and especially 9, and the Violin Concerto.
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture (especially if you can hear it live with real cannon), 6th Symphony.
Bach: The Brandenberg Concertos, but especially #3.
Rossini: Any collection of his overtures, but primarly “William Tell,” “The Barber of Seville,” and “The Thieving Magpie” (Though you’ll find you’ve heard these already).
Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81
Saint-Saens: Danse macabre
Respigi: Pines of Rome
Gershwin: “Rhapsody in Blue” and “An American in Paris”
Mussorgsky: “Night on Bald Mountain” and “Pictures at an Exhibition”
Prokofiev: “Lt. Kije Suite,” especially “Troika”
Milhaud: “Le Boeuf sur le toit”
As an introduction, sticking to some mainstream composers, with one per somposer:
Bach JS - organ works (try toccatas and fgues first)
Mozart - clarinet concerto
Haydn - Late string quartets
Beethoven - Symphony 6
Schubert - Unfinished symphony
Schumann - Piano concerto
Mendelssohn - Violin concerto
Brahms - Clarinet quintet
Bruckner - Symphony 9
Mahler - Symphony 4
Dvorak - American string quartet
Liszt - Les preludes
Chopin - Nocturnes
Saint-Saens - Organ symphony
Rimsky-Korsakov - Sheherazade
Rachmaninov - Paino concerto 2
Ravel - La valse
Debussy - La mer
Grieg - Holberg suite
Sibelius - Finalandia
Try 20th century (Shostakovich etc) after this.
Give Holst’s Planet Suites a whirl, too. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age is my fave.
I can listen to Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos till the cows come home. Then I will tell the cows to be quiet, so I can listen some more!
. … And there’s a lovely tune you may know as “Strangers in Paradise.” But did you know it is actually the Polovtsian Dance No. 3 by Borodin?
BTW, if you want to sample some of these, try the Classical Music Archives. You should be able to find performances of those mentioned so far.
Eve, you neglected to add a closing [/Snooty British accent] tag, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to imagine everything you say from now on in that accent, unless you do so. 
These all are fantastic selections. I’ll merely add:
Bach (JS): Any of the four orchestral suites, but the 3rd one is especially good - and will probably be familiar too.
R. Strauss: Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel, Also sprach Zarathustra
Mahler: 1st symphony (this in addition to Dragon’s suggestion of the 4th. They’re both nice and accessible, and you can maybe move to the “meatier” ones after that - which is to say, any other Mahler symphony besides 1 or 4.)
Prokofiev: 1st symphony (“Classical”) or some excerpts from the ballet “Romeo and Juliet”, or if you’re in the mood for something a little wild and flashy, try the Scythian Suite.
Mozart: 35th symphony (“Haffner”)
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
Ginastera: the “Estancia” ballet suite
Barber: Medea’s Dance of Vengeance
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
I’d better stop, or else I’ll keep going. 
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Adagio for Strings, op. 11 (Samuel Barber) – I like Sir Nevill Marriner’s Academy of St. Martin in the Fields recording. It’s a quiet and simple piece.
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**Fantasia on Greensleeves ** (Vaughan Williams)
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Tchaikovsky’s** Symphony No.5 in E Minor** is also really good.
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I’m partial to the cello, so I like Yo-Yo Ma’s Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G-Major
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Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf is a classic; in addition to Lt. Kije Suite (if you’re a Sting fan, you’ll recognize the melody in “Russians”), I also like Love for 3 Oranges.
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Chopin’s Berceuse, op. 57 is beautiful, but a little difficult to find. Evgeny Kissin put out a good recording.
If you like Sting, it’s also noteworthy that there’s a recording of him narrating Peter and the Wolf!
There are lots of threads with classical music recommendations. Search Cafe Society for threads with “classical” in the subject.
Here are a few favorites of mine separated by time period, also I’ll try to name ones that others haven’t said yet. Also I’m a young dude so the music I like tends to be pretty accessible, and I tend to prefer “exciting” (for lack of a better word) music so my list may be a decent one to use if you find alot of classical music boring. ^_~
20th Century
Corigliano - Symphony No. 1
Ives - The Unanswered Question
Romantic
Lizst - Les Preludes
Schubert - Fantasia in F minor for Piano 4-hands, Op 103
Classical
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 24, K491
Beethoven - Coriolanus Overture
Baroque
Purcell - The Fairy Queen
Vivaldi - Concerto, for violin, oboe, 2 recorders, 2 oboes, bassoon, strings & continuo in G minor, RV 576
Renaissance
Praetorius - Terpsichore
Milan - Pavanas and Fantasias
Early Music
Hildegard von Bingen - Ordo virtutum
Vitry - Le Roman de Fauvel
Man…there’s just too much music out there.