an essential site (and another non-essential, but pretty cool, site)

[Barad Simith]

The essential is Classical.net:

http://www.classical.net

When I'm considering a new purchase -- for example, curse10 recommended Brahms' Tragic Overture -- I can look under "Reviews and Articles" to find a decent recording of the piece.

I'm always surprised at how comprehensive the site is. Here are the results for the Tragic Overture:

Chicago Symphony/Barenboim - Erato 94817 (PB)
Chicago Symphony/Reiner - EMI (GF)
London Philharmonic/Jochum - EMI 569515 (RS)
National Philharmonic/Stokowski - EMI 75480 (RS)
National Radio Orchestra/Horenstein - Music & Arts 1146 (RT)
Philharmonia/Klemperer - EMI 62742 (GF)
Utah Symphony/Kojian - Citadel 88102 (TG)
Vienna Philharmonic/Barbirolli - EMI 72649 (RT)
Vienna Philharmonic/Knappertsbusch - Decca 470254 (GF)

Each one of these issue numbers links to a review of the CD. In this case, I can see that I'll be better off trying any of these except Barenboim or Kojian. And when choosing between the remaining seven, I can read why each piece is recommended, and how each differs from the others.

Then there's the "Basic Repertoire List," categorized by period, then by composer. These are just two of the many resources of Classical.net.

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The non-essential, but pretty cool, site is Classics from the Silver Screen:

http://pachome2.pacific.net.sg/~bchee/movies.html

Search by composer or film title. Someone put a lot of effort and detail into this one.