Music Selection

[alex_r]

I'm new to the piano (I've been playing guitar for the last nine years) and I want to build up a collection of classical music, but I don't know where to begin. Which pianists are a must-have for any personal collection?

[xvimbi]

If you want to build up a collection of classical music, I think you should focus on composers first, then pieces, and only then on performers.

[prodigy1220]

I'm new to the piano (I've been playing guitar for the last nine years) and I want to build up a collection of classical music, but I don't know where to begin. Which pianists are a must-have for any personal collection?

  START with FUR ELISE   

[alzado]

Alex--

One thing you don't make clear-- when you talk about a collection, do you mean recordings or do you mean sheet music and musical scores?

If you are an adult learner, as I assume, you may be wise to shop diligently and purchase sheet music or music scores of compositions that are within your reach of skill.

The idea that collecting a large assembly of recordings is somehow going to make you a better piano player is  . . .  well, pretty "over the top" for me.   I don't mean to be disrespectful -- I imagine some will disagree with me.

To add to your collection of (playable) musical scores, one idea is to take half an hour in the biggest music store you can find.  Leaf through many various pieces, especially by composers you personally like. 

Unless you actually see the score with your own eyes, you will not be able to make a judgement about (1) whether it is within your reach;  and (2) whether you think you would like it.

[rc]

Try and find a radio station that plays classical. You'll gradually be exposed to everything and anything, and the hosts will usually give a little background information for what they play.

When I was first getting into classical music, I downloaded a lot off the net. That gave me an idea of which composers and which instrumentation (solo piano, concerto, string quartet, etc...) I liked. Then I just did some random CD shopping, grabbing whatever made me curious. You can get some dirt cheap classical disks, Naxos is a good label that comes to mind that is inexpensive.

I like Xvimbi's point of composer->piece->performer.