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although I have had them offer unsolicited advice occasionally. Tower Record in NYC has 2 stores with big classical sections and fairly knowledgeable employees. This will probably be of no help to you at all, but I think what I did initially was pay attention to who was conducting whatever I was looking at, the singers (if vocal), the orchestra and finally the recording label. I have a bias towards opera, vocal and early music, and also decided that certain labels were more likely than not to provide me with something I would like. Initially, I tended to buy opera recordings by Deutsche Grammaphone because they had a reputation in that market, also looking at the singers/conducter/orchestra as I became more familiar with things. (I'm a self-taught opera addict who has never taken a snooty approach to the world's snootiest music form lol.) Eventually, I found myself generally enjoying recordings on the Erato and Harmonia Mundi labels, and would pick one up here and there without knowing a clue about the music on the CD. You can also buy guides to classical music, which will recommend recordings. For example, I think the Viking Opera Guide is a very valuable publication for the opera fan, since it not only gives a summary of the plot of an opera, but also provides information abt the musical highlights in the opera, stuff on the composer, and recommended recordings. Maybe someone here can recommend a guide on more general classical music to you.
I think you probably need to listen to a variety of composers to find a music form(s) that you like. Handel & Beethoven wrote in quite different styles of music. You may like both, neither or one or the other. If you do find composers that you like, then you can then expand to other composers in their period. Of course, this is complicated by the fact that composers can write in a variety of musical forms: I like Beethoven's symphonies but am not that into his sonatas as an example, and quite dislike his one opera!
Listening to snippets on websites is a good idea; I think other people suggested sites in this thread. Depending on where you live, your library might also lend out recordings.
I think you need to be a bit careful abt buying low budget recordings before you obtain a better feel for what you like, especially with off-brand foreign labels, unless you just view it as an experiment. A recording by the Transylvanian Symphony Orchestra might turn you off of a piece forever because of poor recording and less than stellar singing. I once bought a very inexpensive recording of a favorite Tchaikovsky opera of mine out of curiousity, "Eugene Onegin", stuck it in my player when I got home, and discovered that the company had sung it in German, not Russian.(Germans have a habit of singing operas in German, no matter what language they are written in lol.)
(I was probably in my 20's when I bought my first classical recording, since I did not grow up in a family where it was played.)
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