My Interest in Classical Music.

Ever since I was a youngster (over 40 years ago) I have had an interest in Classical Music, of course it started with the well known pieces, like Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Beethoven's Symphony No 5, and Holst's The Planets Suite. At the time I didn't appreciate the music other than they piqued my curiosity and they were lively pieces to listen to. Over the years I never really strayed from classical music, yes I occasionally dabbled pop music and jazz, however I always came back to the music I really loved.
As I grew mature I developed my classical music tastes and started finding more pieces that I started to like; Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Pachalbel's Canon, Albinoni's Adagio, Johann Stauss' The Blue Danube, and Beethoven's Symphony No 6 'Pastorale.' Most of this was via vinyl or cassettes, and then one day I heard an orchestra live and then I wanted more of it, however it was very expensive to see a live concert so I had to stick to vinyl and cassettes.
Then CDs came onto the market and I now updated my collection and started broadening my horizons and discovered Vaughn Williams Lark Ascending, among the many more becoming available. I then discovered Chopin, Schubert, Delius, Rachmaninov and Grieg, especially his Piano Concerto.
Then opera started to influence me and although I listened to them mainly on the radio or CDs, I wanted more and then I bought to watch an opera, my first live opera was Richard Strauss' Der Ronsenkavalier. Since then I have watched, Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes; Puccini's Madam Butterfly; Puccini's Tosca; Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust; Benjamin's A Midsummer Night's Dream; and my next one is Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. I have also seen a couple of ballets as well; Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, and an Eifman's ballet Anna Karenina.
I have found that classical music is very soothing, especially after a hard day at work.
Reading reviews of Classical Music is not always helpful, it is only listening to it that you get to know whether it is a good piece or not.