So Peggy Lucero is starting collection:

Very fine that you are thinking seriously about a classical music
selection.  And, judging from responses so far, you've come to a good place
for a well-informed earful.  As one of the less sophisticated listners on
this list, perhaps I am paradoxically perhaps better qualified than some of
the mavens on this list to respond to you.  But you are headed in the right
direction, one that can reward you for the rest of your life.  So, FWIW:

-Skip Schoenberg.  Substitute Tchaikovsky: heck, even some of the
mavens of this list defend him.  The Serenade in C Major could serve as
an excellent introduction to "classical" music.  Someone new to this genre
really can't do better: this is wonderful, easily approachable music.
Neville Marriner has an excellent recording.  Particularly since you like
the piano, his Piano Concerto No. 1 deserves similar acclaim, and the
experts here will probably sneer at me, but I don't think you can go wrong
with van Cliburn's recording of this with the RCA Symphony.  Finally, his
violin concerto is one that even people who detest Tchaikovsky respect, and
audiences have been thrilled by it for over a century: Kyung-Wha Chung's
recording of this is wonderful.

-You need Brahms ever so much more than you need Janacek or Hindemith (I'd
almost suggest you can skip the Hindemith altogether, but I'd hate to start
a flame war on the list).  Brahms' first symphony- a mature work, unlike
many first symphonies- is deservedly one of the war horses of the concert
hall.  His violin concerto is similarly masterful and approachable.I have
a recording by the late Emil Gilels that was recommended to me,

-No collection should be without Beethoven.  I'm personally not a great
fan of his symphonies, but his piano concertos and sonatas are another
matter.  People on this list may suffer from over exposure to the
Waldstein, Appassionata, and Moonlight Sonatas, but they is good reason
they are performed so frequently.  I have a recording of these by the late
great Emil Gilels, and I cannot think you'll do better.  His last piano
sonatas (numbers.  28 & 29, the Hammerklavier) are probably greater music,
but also are more complex, so I would start with the first named sonatas.
As you gain in listening skills, don't miss his string quartets,
particularly his late quartets.  The cavatina movement from quartet no. 13
is as sublime a seven minutes as you'll ever experience in this world- try
to hear it live sometime.  Recordings by the Berg and the Emerson quartets
are unsurpassed.  With all due respect to modernity, any list for a
beginner's collection that includes Webern, but not Beethoven, should be
returned to the publisher for rework.

I think what I most want to say to you, however, is do not be content with
recordings: they are only a pale reflection of a good live performance.
And you are fortunate to live in a place where this type of music exists
in abundance, some of it very inexpensively, even free.  Go to the the
Smithsonian concerts Sunday evening: they are free.  David Cheng on this
lists runs a wonderful chamber music series just a few miles from where you
live.  Ten bucks gets you in to a front row seat to hear excellent chamber
music in an intimate setting.  And, without, I hope, being too personal,
this Saturday a young pianist will perform the Liszt Piano Sonata in B
Minor- as firey a romantic sonata as you'll ever hear- at the Kennedy
Center.  My 11 year old and I would be delighted to have you accompany us.
Email me privately if you are interested.

There is a wonderful world that awaits you.  Almost by definition, this
music can never be as immediately approachable for most people as popular
music, but that which is of enduring value almost always requires some
discipline to appreciate (OK, microbrew beer is the exception that proves
the rule!).

Larry Sherwood
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