Classical music for dummies?

Hello, I need suggestions from people who know and love classical music. The only real classical music exposure I have is when I took a music literature course and I listened to a small sample of a few composers, most of which I could not identify more than two days after listening.

In fast, most of the classical music I have heard had no real appeal or was awefully boring. So I'm hoping someone can steer me in the right direction.

What I would like to hear most is music that features arpeggios either on piano or guitar, or are good at portraying certain emotions like sadness, more so with actual notes than with instrumentation (ie no violin or droning cello).

Classical music for dummies?

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One of my favourite guitar pieces is Asturias (Leyenda) by Isaac Alb鑼卬iz. There are two or three versions of it available for free here:

http://www.classiccat.net/albeniz_i/47.h...

Don't rule out violin and orchestra just yet.

Listen to Mozart's violin concertos 1 and 3, particularly the andantes (second movements) from both concertos - very beautiful and moving pieces. Pichas Zukerman's versions of Mozarts concertos are very good, and I recommend getting those if it is possible.

Also listen to Saint-Sa姣沶s' Havanaise (Op. 83), another beautiful piece for orchestra featuring the violin.

Classical music for dummies?

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If you're looking for piano music that portrays emotion, I'd go for Polonaise in Ab major by Chopin. You might also want to try Ballade Pour Adeline by Richard Clayderman.
If you are looking for piano music that features arpeggios on piano, try listening to Chopin Etude no.1. Composers such as Rachmaninoff and Chopin are great composers for piano.

There are different kinds of classical music, which varies from eras. There are baroque (Opera "Dido and Aeneas" by Purcell is one of my favourite), classic (Requiem by Mozart is specially sad, as it is written while he was fighting with his death), romantic (Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky etc.) and modern (Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich etc.). There are also contemporary living composers such as John Adams, Steve Reich and Philip Glass who have written film scores and famous for their unique sounds.

I love different kind of music but I must say I am not fixed in one category, I love listening to varieties. I would recommend strongly though listening to music that features solo instruments with orchestras such as Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Elgar Cello Concerto and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no.2. As I play the violin, I would recommend listening also to solo violin sonatas by Eugene Ysaye (Belgian composer/violinist) which is quite astonishing.

I hope I haven't made this too complicated. You need to just try listening to different genres of classical music and in the end, you'll find what you love (I hope). Good Luck.