Something I do love about classical recordings is how differently some conductors and orchestras might interpret a specific piece. An example: The third movement of Debussy's Nocturnes (titled "Sirènes") is most often performed with a women's chorus. My favorite recording of this piece was performed with children's choir instead. The difference in vocal quality is marked. The children's pure vocal tone feels far more eerie and siren-esque than the harsher vibrato and warble of a female chorus. Ironically, I have no idea who conducted/recorded this version of the piece.

Check out Building A Library (and related programmes) on the BBC's wonderful classical station Radio 3:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tmtz/clips

Record Review:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrtty/episodes/player

More to explore here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB7...

Do get into classical music. As others have noted, yes interpretations can vary, but don’t worry about that initially. It’s relatively subtle. All you need to keep track of ultimately, initially, is the name of the piece and the composer.

Decent starting place: Osmo Vanska. Recently retired conductor of the Minnesota Symphony, they recorded all of the Beethoven symphonies and most of Mahler’s, they’re excellent and easily found on streaming platforms.

Some good contemporary soloists: Alexandre Tharaud, Stephen Hough, Peter Hill, Jenny Lin, Isabelle Faust.

If you have Spotify premium give https://getconcertmaster.com/ a try. It's a frontend for Spotify with additional cataloging features for classical recordings.

If you want to send me an email I'd love to give you some starter suggestions for becoming a listener.