Here are my suggestions for novice listeners. They were part of an article I wrote for the Arizona Daily Star in August of 1998. Here are 10 recordings to get you started in classical music: * Early Music: "The Recorder: Four Centuries of Recorder Music," performed by the Pro Arte Recorder Ensemble. Lyrichord. The bubbly recorder was an instrument of choice before 1750. For another good introduction to Early Music, try a collection of dances and motets by Michael Praetorius, performed by David Munrow's Early Music Consort of London on Virgin Classics. * Bach: Selections from the cantatas, passions, harpsichord and organ works, featuring countertenor Rene Jacobs and other crack specialists. Harmonia Mundi. No CD selection would be complete without something by J.S. Bach, music's first towering genius, and this offers a broad sampling. After this CD, try Vladimir Feltsman's account of Bach's "Goldberg Variations." * Mozart: Piano Concerto Nos. 21 and 24. Robert Casadesus solos; George Szell conducts the Cleveland Orchestra. CBS/Sony. Mozart was without peer in music for piano solo with orchestral partnership. I can't imagine tiring of his concertos. Not one note in them seems out of place, they're inventive and deceptively difficult, and their slower sections sing to you like great love songs. After these piano concertos, try the composer's Clarinet Concerto. * Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 76. Tokyo String Quartet. Sony Classical. These six quartets abound in charm, compositional grace, elegance and moments of humor. Even people who can't stand chamber music tell me they like them. After these pieces, listen to Beethoven's slightly later 16 string quartets; some of them reflect the influence of Haydn, while others will take you to worlds only Beethoven could inhabit. * Beethoven: Symphony No. 5. Carlos Kleiber conducts the Vienna Philharmonic (Symphony No. 7 included as well). Deutsche Grammophon. If you can experience only one symphony, Beethoven's Fifth should be it - for the commanding four-note motif in the opening bars, the noble theme-and-variations movement and a relentlessly explosive finale that just won't quit. After Symphony No. 5, take on Beethoven's Ninth. * Choral Music: "A Choral Tapestry," performed by The St. Olaf Choir directed by Anton Armstrong. Privately issued. Armstrong brought this magnificent Minnesota college choir to Tucson last season. This eclectic CD, which spans several centuries, should give you a sweeping view of all that choral literature has to offer. After listening to these shorter pieces, you'll be ready for Handel's "Messiah" at Christmas (or Easter, the holiday for which the beloved oratorio originally was written). To order this and other St. Olaf recordings, call (507) 646-3048. * Georges Bizet's "Carmen": Victoria de los Angeles and Nicolai Gedda sing the leading roles, with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the French National Radio Orchestra and Chorus. EMI Classics. The familiar, catchy tunes, coupled with an engaging story about a Gypsy who seduces and ruins a respectable Spanish officer, make "Carmen" the first great opera to try. Coming in a close second is Mozart's "The Magic Flute." * Van Cliburn: "A Romantic Collection." RCA Gold Seal. This CD pleasantly introduces some of the most popular pieces for solo piano, played by one of America's most popular pianists. After this, buy some Chopin, preferably played by Arthur Rubinstein. * Igor Stravinsky: "The Rite of Spring." The composer conducts the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. ("Petrushka" included.) CBS/Sony. This ballet's brutal dissonance, coupled with its daring use of dueling rhythms, caused a riot at the work's 1913 premiere - but launched an aesthetic for this century. After Stravinsky, try Dmitri Shostakovich's milder but still-bold Symphony No. 5, written about 25 years later. * Steve Reich: "Different Trains." Kronos Quartet. (Disc includes Pat Metheny performing Reich's "Electric Counterpoint.") Elektra/Nonesuch. Classical music of the 1990s comes in many styles, but the most commercially successful is Minimalism - a format relying on the obsessive repetition of little bits of melody or rhythmic patterns. Reich's "Different Trains" shows how audacious yet accessible contemporary music can be. Reich fashions themes and rhythms from a few phrases of human speech and train noises, mixes these recorded sounds with an aggressive string quartet, and produces a compelling piece about rail travel, the Holocaust, loss and survival. "Ken Keuffel Jr." <[log in to unmask]>