Here's a suggestion that some may consider lightweight or frivolous, but it's an inexpensive way to get briefly exposed to a wide variety of classical music. Telarc has produced a series of ten (10) classical sampler CDs (all drawn of course from the Telarc catalog), which can often be bought very cheaply used on Amazon.com from Amazon.com marketplace sellers. They are called The Telarc Collection, volumes 1 through 10. There's a lot of good stuff to be sampled in them (I have all ten). Telarc has also produced a 2002 classical sampler entitled Telarc Classical: Celebrating 25 Years (2 CDs, and it has a companion volume, also 2 CDs, sampling Telarc Jazz).
I admit to enjoying samplers, and have classical samplers from Dorian, Reference Recordings, RCA Living Stereo, Naxos, and probably a few others. Their advantage lies in exposing you to a broad range of music briefly and cheaply. Their disadvantage is that the selections are usually brief, sometimes short snippets, that may not provide enough exposure to the piece of music before moving on to the next selection. But they have their place, I think, and can also be fun for audiophiles. If you're new to classical music, they can at least point you in some rewarding directions and give you ideas as to what you'd like to explore more fully.
I admit to enjoying samplers, and have classical samplers from Dorian, Reference Recordings, RCA Living Stereo, Naxos, and probably a few others. Their advantage lies in exposing you to a broad range of music briefly and cheaply. Their disadvantage is that the selections are usually brief, sometimes short snippets, that may not provide enough exposure to the piece of music before moving on to the next selection. But they have their place, I think, and can also be fun for audiophiles. If you're new to classical music, they can at least point you in some rewarding directions and give you ideas as to what you'd like to explore more fully.