Barrett, I, too, am a young (14) classical music enthusiast, and have
been listening seriously to classical music and opera for almost 2 years
now.  I just wanted to share some of my thougts with you, hoping you can
learn from my mistake.  First of all, listen to everything you can.  From
what you said, you seem to be already listening to a wide range of music.
This way, you can find out soon a rough idea of your tastes, though you
should try to like (or at the very least appreciate) as much as you can.
Second, if you hear a piece you don't like, don't automatically denounce
the composer and never listen to any of his music again.  I made this
mistake a few times before I realized that many times one piece is not
representative a composer and that you may like some works of one composer,
while not liking other ones.  I made this mistake with, for example,
Schoenberg.  I heard some piece of his which, at the time, I found
extremely dissonant and unappealing.  For a long time I avoided Schoenberg.
Then, about 9 months later I decided I should try him again and now I
thoroughly enjoy most of his works.  This has even happened to me where
I didn't like a work the first time I heard it, but eventually grew to
appreciating/liking it.  I found that, without even realizing it, I
started progressing roughly chronologically through classical music
history.  I started out liking mostly composers from Mozart's time through
only the first third of the 19th century.  Then, I built on this, and
started to explore Romanticism.  After that, I started listening to
composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  I now like almost
all music made in the first half of the 20th century and much of the
work that came after, though I still find it hard to understand some
composers who are still writing today.  However, you don't seem to have
this tendency since, after only a short while listening to classical
music, you already enjoy many composers ranging over a wide time span,
from Handel to Chopin to Strauss and Debussy.  So really, my advice is
to go to your public library or CD store and pick up as much stuff as
you can and listen to it.  If you are buying the CDs yourself, though
be careful.  I would reccommend buying Ted Libbey's book "The NPR Guid
to Building A Classical Record Library" or going to websites such as
www.classicstoday.com or www.musicweb.co.uk to find out which recordings
are good and which to avoid.  As for what pieces comprises my "absolute
musical zenith", I must say, like so many others, that it changes over
time, sometimes from day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute.  I would
suggest for you to start out listening to the so-called "standard
repetoire".  Here's a list of the basics: Any of the symphonies of
Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, or Mozart.  Tchaikovsky's Symphonies 4-6,
Haydn's from about # 80- 104, Bruckner's 4th or 7th, Mahler's 1st, 2nd,
or 5th, Sibeliu's 2nd, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, and Berlioz's
Symfonie Fantastique.  And this is just the start, for I only listed
orchestral works.  If you find you like any of these composers, explore
their other works, both symphonic and otherwise.  I wish you well on the
beginning of your classical music journey.

Chris Parles