This list is as good as any:

http://www.classicstoday.com/features/100cds.asp

Pick a spot (I don't advise starting with opera) and go for it.

Breakdown:

"Brahms: Piano Concertos. Gilels-Jochum (DG)"

Composer is Brahms, Piano Concerto is type of music, Gilels-Jochum are the pianist and conductor (performers), DG is the label, short for Deutsche Grammophon.

just pick up any cd. most cds will have their most famous works on it. beethoven's sympony #5 is pretty recognizable and so is fur elise. hey, if that blonde dude from the peanuts cartoons could play fur elise, it's gotta be pretty decent.

There was a rap version circa 1986 titled "Yo! Elise".

cool, who did that?

Uh...somehow I'm thinking "not cool."

No, not cool--but it had a funny cover.

i'm sure it would make for a good chuckle. too bad it's not in german rap. that would be pretty weird.

does neil young count?

but no - i only listen to it when its on a movie score. i am an uncultured sob.

If you don't mind old sound (sometimes REAL old), this guy posts a new piece(s) every week:

http://homepages.ipact.nl/~otterhouse/

Fave piece - Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D minor
Fave movement - Gorecki's 3rd Symphony, Movement I
Fave modern composer - Avro Part
Fave classical composer - prolly Mozart or Beethoven

I have a few friends in choral groups, so I hear some Rutter or Durufle every once in a while. Diggin' it.

The common thought about "rock" listeners starting with classical is baroque. The rhythms and layered polyphony are irresistable. Then classical, then early music, then twentieth century and then romantic and 18th century last.

Get a nice open Vivaldi... The Four Seasons is good to go for rock ears.

I took some discs from a store I worked in years ago. I don't know about them at all really, but I liked to play them while I was reading.

If you don't know where to start, there are plenty of books and lists which name a canon. Just as a change of pace from the usual, sometimes i'll listen to the consensus greatest works, mostly checked out from the library. I focus much more on the work than the specific recording since I am not sophisticated enough to really tell much difference. If it's really famous, I try to find, e.g., that particular Gould, the original Music For 18 Musicians, etc. I took a classical music class once and have a few books. I find listening to it more interesting and less overwhelming if i know at least the rudiments of a particular style, still flying pretty blind but with a basic road map . Even then, I often can't recognize a particular structure which makes it what it is. So I feel kind of dumb but sometimes iit's a fun challenge. If I don't do any homework the listening can just be background noise, however pleasant, and i don't feel like i'm really getting much benefit. I dont know much really about art, architecture, or classical music but it's nice to be able to at least place them in the broadest context of history. It's like if you go to Europe and see a cathedral or museum, it's worth the effort to at least come out knowing more than where the snack bar is.

if you're pregnant or have a kid, make the kid listen to mozart. that stuff will make your offspring a genius. i'm not sure if this is true or theory, but what the heck, doesn't hurt to listen.

I began watching Classical Baby on HBO with my 13-month old. Similar to the Fantasia movies (classical pieces w/animation). A lot less headache-inducing than the shows on Noggin.
(although Jack's Music Show is a-ight)

Ive only really listened to Erik Satie type stuff

I love classical music, but I'm far from an expert. I tend to like the more modern stuff - I recently downloaded some really cool Krzysztof Penderecki, for example.

I also listen to the online station NRK Alltid Klassisk a LOT. They do a nice job mixing up the eras.

is there a link?

You used to be able to access it via www.nordicwebradio.com ...but it doesn't seem to be available there anymore.

I listen to it via RealPlayer - just search for it in the "radio" application. You should be able to find it that way on Windows Media Player, too - I just prefer RealPlayer.

As someone who is neither cultured or intelligent I have no interest whatsoever in crappy classical music.

I know I'll get there, but I am dragging my feet because I know I will become borderline obsessive to the point of not enjoying it. I haven't bottomed out on rock and roll yet.

I just found out my local library has free streaming audio of 35,000 classical pieces.

OH. MY. GOD. I. AM. SO. THERE.

I've got a smattering and a half of classical. It rarely turns my head to such an extent that I say "Oooo, I must buy more [insert composer here]" except, for some reason, Vivaldi. Love his sound.

I read somewhere that the take on Vivaldi is that he didn't write 500 pieces of music, he wrote one piece of music 500 times.

Most of the classical I enjoy is Baroque and before--the kind of stuff that "early music" ensembles play. I once went to a wonderful early music concert at the Cloisters. (For you non-New Yorkers, the Cloisters is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to medieval art, housed in a great stone building replicating a monestary. That famous unicorn tapestry is there.) The audience was seated in the chapel, but the 6 or 7 piece ensemble started with some Gregorian chanting way off down the echoing stone corridors and slowly proceded into the room. (Why does Gregorian chant sound so cool coming from a distance?) They played all manner of early instruments and vocal styles, explaining the history as they went. For the final piece, they led the audience in a processional all through the museum, playing all the way (I rocked the air lute) down to the mausoleum. T'were fab.

I like some classical music but I rarely know the composers of the pieces that I like.