I think Mike Leghorn has some important points about classical music
appreciation here.

Speaking for myself, the Brahms Second Piano Concerto and Fourth symhony
are personal favourites, the concerto in particular.  I had a bad start
with Brahms, though (a too slow rendering of the Second symphony).

A friend of mine, a keen Puccini connoiseur, once said: I admit that
there is an element of rawness in Puccini operas.  If you can listen
past that, there is a vast space of lyrical feeling, among other things.
- My friend could do that.  I haven't learned to (yet?).  John Culshaw
once wrote about the possibility that any classical music enthusiast
must have at least one blind spot.  He admitted that his blind spot
was Mahler symphonies.

The possible conclusion is perhaps that the supply of great classical
music is so rich and varied that there can be no single listener who
can truly appreciate everything.  Other "blind spots", anyone?

Michael Cervin