In response to a question concerning starting a classical music collection,
Santu De Silva advised:

>Try concertos.  These are so much fun, you run the small risk of never
>going beyond them.  But it's important to have fun in this business, imo.

I would add to this list, the enormous number of Italian Baroque concertos.
This is where the concerto began.  The best known are the "four Seasons"
by Vivaldi.  There are many good recordings.  In addition, Vivaldi wrote
hundreds of concertos for violin, as well as a large number for cello,
bassoon, oboe and flute.  I can not, however, leave this subject without
giving a plug for my favourite composer of concertos - Tomasso Albinoni.
His best known sets of concertos are Op 5 (for strings), and Ops 7 and 9
(strings, 1 and 2 oboes).  The recordings of these played by Simon Standage
are of very high quality.  I wish you all the best with your collection.

Barry Murray.
Cairns, Australia.