@retiredaudioguy 

Agree, again!

Back in the old days when we had a dedicated classical music shop in Canberra, I was asked several times to curate (hate that word) a classical collection for novices.

I let the shop owner do a first cut, but always insisted that Elgar's Cello Concerto, with Jaqueline du Pre and Sir John Barbirolli, should be included.  It had always been full price, which says something!

Last year, it was the top choice of listeners to Classic FM by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.  Now it is included in a 7 CD set with other brilliant performances of Elgar's music, on special for about three bucks a disk.  See: Elgar: Orchestral Works - Warner Classics: 9029643842 - 7 CDs or download | Presto Music, but hurry the special closes on 7 January.

@retiredaudioguy 

I do wish there were a term other than "classical", classical being, strictly, music coeval with Mozart, Haydn, early Beethoven, 1750-1820 are the usual dates

Ditto.  I tried 'short' and 'long' music to no avail! 

From now on, I am going to use "Classical" for the strict period, and "classical" for everything else

A very important interview of Leslie Howard about Liszt  whom he recorded an integral...

Liszt is this kind of genius  whose real dimensions cannot be recognized  even a century or two after his death like Bruckner or Bach ...

Leslie Howard Explains Liszt — From the Complete Recordings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcvSbSYH2Ds

A little Liszt goes a long way for me.  I think Howard recorded every note that he ever wrote.  They ought to condense it into a 3 CD package of “greatest hits for those of us that want to sample his playing and don’t want the 109 or so CDs

Well there used to be the Schwann catalogue (if anyone remembers) but you kinda had to know what you wanted.

There's the ArkivMusic website; https://arkivmusic.com/

ArkivMusic has gone through a lot of changes over the years. They had an enormous catalogue with many reviews from ClassicsToday however that seems to be no more. It's probably still worth looking at.

I'm also a +1 on the ClassicsToday website however some reviews are free and some only come with a subscription.

Gramophone magazine lists recommended recordings and reviews.https://www.gramophone.co.uk/

I would advise subscribing to Gramophone for information regarding classical musicians and recordings. They've been around for a long time, so their archives are informative and entertaining. And compared to all of the other classical music magazines in English, I believe they are the best.

If you can read French, Diapson is equal to Gramophone; .https://www.diapasonmag.fr/