Note: I'm distrubuting this guide under public domain. I don't claim any rights to this document, except sole rights to edit OP of this thread 
Here's a guide for people to get into classical. Note that the song recommendations and artists are my tastes, and many, if not most, people will disagree. However, to quote maddox, "if you disagree, you're wrong."
No, j/k
============
Baroque:
============
Bach:
Brandenburg Concertos 1-6 - get any recording that is performed with PERIOD instruments, which means that the performers used the original instruments available in bach's time or recreations of those instruments. The violin did not change much from the 1600s to now, but it's still very noticible wrt texture.
Violin Concertos - Bach composed many violin concertos, famous ones include one in A minor, E major, and one for two violins in D Minor. I suggest the Hilary Hahn recording of the concertos. (Plus, she's uber hot - google for pics) For the "double" concerto, a famous one was made by Issac Stern and Ithzak Perlman.
Well Tempered Klavier Books I and II - These are not virtuoso pieces, but I find them enjoyable when studying (for math tests, etc), as they don't reach very extreme dynamics, and the overall texture, although distinctable, is more consistant than later styles. Plus it's over three hours long, so it's enough music for you to finish writing essays without repeats. These are pieces Bach wrote when the well-tempered tuning system was first introduced. (for tuning systems see wikipedia article) I'm not going to explain much here, but basically tones and pitches sounded different in bach's days compared to now. (Note that this new tuning system is NOT the one used today. In fact, it's nowhere close.) Each book contains 24 preludes and fugues, one in each major and minor key, including obscure ones like C# major. The prelude #1 in book I is very famous. I recommend the recording (however heavly romanticised one) by Andreas Schiff. If possible, obtain book I first, and then obtain book II if you like it. They're almost always sold sepreately.
Goldberg Variations - These are a set of 24(?) variations based on a simple theme. Most people I talk to recommend the one by Glenn Gould.
Note: I'm not a big fan of vivaldi. I don't think highly of the seasons, and although some of the violin concertos are good, the rest are so-so. Not worth the money to buy a set of CDs, IMO.
I don't know enough about Handel to make a decision. I've listened to the Messiah a few times, but not enough. I'm not religious, so maybe that's why.
============
Classical:
============
Mozart: I don't know enough about his music, because IMO none of his music really stands out unlike other composers. But on average, I enjoy him a lot. Since his music is pretty consistent throughout his life, Mozart is about the _only_ composer I recommend buying a 3 or 5-cd boxed set that contains a bit of everything from his works.
One exception: The Requrium. This is simply a must. Listen to the first minute, and you'll what I mean. I prefer this over the matrix soundtrack.
Beethoven:
Oh, where to begin?
Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (Op. 67) - If you haven't heard the first movement, you literally fail at life. However, even if you have, be sure to listen through the entire symphony, in one stop. This is one work that I feel deserve to be overrated as it is.
Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (Op. 125) - The fourth movement contains the famous tune "Ode to Joy." However, the first, second, and third movements are equally deserving. I espeically enjoy the recatipulation in the 1st movement where the very first theme switches to D major, at fortissimo. The ~3-minute string fugue in the 4th movement is very epic too. Listen to the entire symphony at once. It's long (about 70 minutes) , but worth it.
Fact: Beethoven was completely deaf before starting work on this piece.
Symphony No. 7 in A Major (Op. 92) - This is statistically the most-performed beethoven symphony, and with good reason. The second movement is absolutely stunning. As with any slow movement, it can only be enjoyed fully while listening to the entire symphony.
Symphony No. 3 in Eb Major "Eroica" (Op. 55), No. 8 in F Major (Op. 93), No. 6 in F Major "Pastoral" (Op. 68) and Symphony No. 2 in D Major (Op. 36) are also very noteworthy.
I feel that this is one out of a few places you should obtain the entire set. There are many many recordings made for the symphonies, but you really can't go wrong with Herbert von Karajan.
Note that there are also modern recordings that "follow the metronome markings". (most recordings play it much slower than beethoven intended, especially from sym. no. 5 onward.) I own a recording by Benjamen Zander, which I enjoy a lot, but I dont' know enough about these recordings to give an opinion.
On to piano sonatas:
The ones most likely to be heard on a piano recital (in order of year composed) are:
No. 8 in C Minor "Pathetique" (Op. 13)
No. 14 in C# Minor "Moonlight" (Op. 27 No. 2)
No. 17 in D Minor "Tempest" (Op. 31 No. 2)
No. 21 in C Major "Waldstein" (Op. 53)
No. 23 in F Minor "Appassionata" (Op. 57)
No. 26 in Eb Major "Les adieux" (Op. 81a)
No. 27 in E Minor (Op. 90)
No. 28 in A Major (Op. 101)
No. 29 in Bb Major "Hammerklavier" (Op. 106)
No. 30 in E Major (Op. 109)
No. 31 in Ab Major (Op. 110)
No. 32 in C Minor (Op. 111)
Suggested listening: If you haven't heard any of these before, listen to the pathetique, appassionata, waldstein, and moonlight first.
The hammerklavier's 4th movement is essentially a 12-minute 4-part fugue. If you don't know what that means, it means it's extremely complex. In terms of difficulty, that single movement is the hardest out of any movement of beethoven piano sonatas.
I recommend the complete set of beethoven sonatas by Richard Goode. It might be a bit expensive (around $100), but It's one of the best investments I've made. (Remember though, the set is something like 11 cds though) People either love goode or hate it. If you aren't turned on by his style, the other famous sets are done by Richter and Brendel. Note: The set by Richard Goode are probably the only recordings I haven't been to locate anywhere on p2p. So you might want to save money for this, if for anything.
String Quartets:
The string quartet is one of beethoven's lesser-known accomplishments. Beethoven composed 15 in total, but each and every one is very distinctive. Even the first six, which is combined into one large opus (Op. 18) are nothing alike to each other. Nos 7, 8, 9, and 10 are probably the most famous. After No. 11, Beethoven experiments a lot with the music, and for beginning listeners it might be hard to understand. There are large amounts of fugue work involved in this ballpark.
I recommend the complete set of recordings by the Emerson Quartet and the Alban Burg Quartet. I haven't been able to locate the former on any p2p networks though.
In general, for beethoven, the complete set of symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets are pretty much must-haves for any classical enthusaist. However, the recommendations I listed might be a bit pricy, and probably nets over $350.
Note: Don't bother with Fur Elise. It's prehaps the second most overrated (after Packhell's Canon) classical piece evar. If you must, find the one with the most sharers and the lowest filesize and get it done with. And hope it's done by a 8-year old asian-nerd amature pianist (like myself, but i'm 16) who uses way too much pedal and makes it sound worse than G&L poop.
============
Romantic:
============
Violin Concertos
Because most composers only ever compose one violin concerto, I'm putting them in the same catagory.
Famous ones:
Bruch Violin Concerto in G Minor Op. 26
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64
Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 47
Brahms Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 77
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 35
Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major Op. 61 (not romantic, but i'm putting it in because it's also in D)
You can't go wrong with Perlman on the Mendelssohn, the Bruch, and the Tchaikovsky.
I've heard good things about Sarah Chang on the Beethoven. There's a video of her playing it, and it's really amazing to see how small her hands are, but they are so fast.
Girls at my school who play the violin look highly on Jousha Bell's Sibelius. (Appearantly he's really good at violin, he's hot/sexy, and he's rich) I don't have enough recordings to make a judgement.
Hilary Hahn is amazing for the Brahms.
Chopin:
Anything by chopin, you can't go wrong with. He didn't compose as much music as beethoven or later composers (he died young), but each and every one of them are amazing. Chopin was pretty much a 100% piano guy. The only times he ventured out of piano is to give the orchestra parts for his two piano concertos
I'll go over a brief overview:
Ballades: Other than the sonatas and concertos, Chopin's four ballades are the most mature works. I have a strong passion for the first one in G Minor (Op. 23). The recording made by Horowitz in his return to Carnagie Hall in the 1960s is sipmly breathtaking. If you can find it seperately, be sure to get it. Otherwise, i think you're forced to by the entire 10-cd collection.
Etudes: Chopin composed twelve Etudes in Op. 10, and twelve more in Op. 25. Etudes are pieces that are designed to be difficult, and are used to "show off" the pianist. Althought literally it means "practice piece", they aren't really used for practicing, and are performed as much as any other sonata/etc. Ones I particularly enjoy are: Op. 10 No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12 and Op. 25 No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, and 12. (Note that I included the majority of them )
Preludes: There are 24 preludes in the Op. 28 set, and three more composed much later. The Op. 28 set contains a prelude in every major and minor key. The preludes are very short, and the entire set takes about 20-30 minutes to perform. These are concidered "one work", you'll rarely find performers that don't perform all at the same time.
Schzeros: Other than the ballades, these are the next mature pieces, and are defintatly worth listening for anyone. No. 2 is played particularly often among my pianist friends.
Polonaises: Piano solos in the style of Polish nationalistic music, with a distinctive rhythm. However, if you haven't heard polish 19-th century music, it probably wont' sound polish at all, because it's more romantic than anything else.
Concertos and Sonatas: Chopin composed 3 sonatas and 2 concertos. These are a must-have.
I'm not a big fan of the waltzes, nocturnes, or mazurkas. There's a few of them to the contrary, including:
Op. 64 No. 1 "Minute Waltz"
Op. 64 No. 2
Nocture in E Minor
Nocturne in C# Minor Op. Posth
The fantasie impromptu is overrated, having performed it myself. Besides the triplet concurring with sixteenths rhythm (pain in the a$$ to count) there's not much. The middle section is so-so and the ending is horrible IMO. It's still worth a listen once or so.
Out of the above, the only must-haves are the 4 Ballades, the 24 Etudes, 3 Sonatas, 2 Concertos, and 4 Scherzos. After that, the 17(?) polonaises and selected waltzes, impromptus, nocturnes, and mazurkas are worth getting a recording of.
Unlike beethoven and a few other composers, there's no set of "definitive" recordings for chopin. As much as I don't like saying this, the best bet is to find someone famous on amazon.com and read the ignorant/dumb/biased/extremist/sexually-deprived reviews by the buyers.
Recordings I have recordings of and enjoy: Ashkenazy, Pollini, Argerich, Rubinstein, and Arrau.
Liszt
As with Chopin, there's no "definitive" recordings here either, so I'm not going to give specific recommendations to recordings. Amazon user-reviews are probably a bit more accurate here compared to Chopin, since the majority of Liszt pieces are designed to show-off to the audiences, so it doesn't take a music major to learn how to judge.
Like Chopin, Liszt composed pretty much all for piano. He was probably history's most successful pianist himself. (He turned into a monk later though. WTF?) And also like Chopin, anything by him is worth listening to. So I'm only listening the must-listens here:
Hungarian Rhapsodys 1-15 - Famous ones include #2, #6, #11, #12, and #15. As the title describes, they got a Hungarian style.
Transcendental Etudes - There are twelve of them. #10 is particularly famous.
Sonata in B Minor - Liszt only composed one sonata, and this is considered the most mature work he ever composed. Containing only one movement, but at >40 minutes long, this ranks top 5 in my all-time favorite pieces. I've got >20 different recordings of this work. My favorite goes out to the one by Yundi Li. (LiYundi for you asians)
There are many famous short piano works that warrent must-haveness. Instead of trying to find recordings that contain these, it's better to do the opposite, since most recordings include liszt as some type of "padding", if the cd doesn't reach 70 minutes and there's room for extra content. See the "virtuoso" section.
Rachmaninoff (spelled about 4 different ways, so take account of that when searching google/amazon)
My number 1 favorite classical work of all time (at least until i'm 20) is Rachmainoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor. It's considered the hardest concerto for the piano in the standard repitore, and it sounds equally difficult. It's a tremendous vitriouso piece, but also one of the most musical too. I'm willing to upload a copy of this somewhere to give people a taste (if someone would provide hosting). I'll upload the liszt sonata too.
I have over 20 recordings of this piece, and I recommend the 1978 recording of Horowitz with conductor Ormandy. There's a video of this floating around p2p somewhere.
After you get bored with Horowitz, Stephen Hough makes an excellent recording (extremely fast, but not as muscial).
There was a video of Olga Kern (winner of 2004 tchaikovsky competetion iirc) performing this piece. It's a highly dramatized one, and although her playing is not as good compared to horowitz, it's still worth taking a look at. Don't buy it though. A torrent was floating around a couple months ago. Maybe it's still active.
Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto is also one of the best works ever; i'd rank it my top 10. The piano takes a lesser role in this concerto, and it's much more lyrical than the third concerto. The first movement is extremely dark and depressing. The 2-3 minute segment before when the main theme comes back in is my favorite part of this concerto.
I suggest Ashkenazy's recording of this.
Varations on a Theme by Paganini is also a concerto work. (It's based on Paganini's 24th Violin Caprice) It's equally as as good as the above two concertos.
The above three works I feel everyone in the world should listen to at least once, alongside with Beethoven's fifth, etc. (Well, maybe except h|tler)
Besides Rachmaninoff's concertos, the preludes and etudes-tableaux are worth getting recordings of. Every one of them is distinct in style and texture. I only have 4-5 recordings of these, so I can't give recommendations. Amazon should help you out here.
Virtuosos
Many recordings aren't sold by composer, but by artist. Many of these are either full of short 2-8 minute pieces, or one long piece and couple short ones to make the full 70 minutes. These are definitely worth listening to.
Must-Haves:
Horowitz Encores
Volodos: Piano Transcriptions <- I got this from the library a week ago. It's simply breathtaking.
Perlman Encores
Perlman Bits and Pieces
Yundi Li - Liszt<- contains the liszt piano sonata.
I'll be updating with moretchaikovsky, etc
Here's a guide for people to get into classical. Note that the song recommendations and artists are my tastes, and many, if not most, people will disagree. However, to quote maddox, "if you disagree, you're wrong."
No, j/k
============
Baroque:
============
Bach:
Brandenburg Concertos 1-6 - get any recording that is performed with PERIOD instruments, which means that the performers used the original instruments available in bach's time or recreations of those instruments. The violin did not change much from the 1600s to now, but it's still very noticible wrt texture.
Violin Concertos - Bach composed many violin concertos, famous ones include one in A minor, E major, and one for two violins in D Minor. I suggest the Hilary Hahn recording of the concertos. (Plus, she's uber hot - google for pics) For the "double" concerto, a famous one was made by Issac Stern and Ithzak Perlman.
Well Tempered Klavier Books I and II - These are not virtuoso pieces, but I find them enjoyable when studying (for math tests, etc), as they don't reach very extreme dynamics, and the overall texture, although distinctable, is more consistant than later styles. Plus it's over three hours long, so it's enough music for you to finish writing essays without repeats. These are pieces Bach wrote when the well-tempered tuning system was first introduced. (for tuning systems see wikipedia article) I'm not going to explain much here, but basically tones and pitches sounded different in bach's days compared to now. (Note that this new tuning system is NOT the one used today. In fact, it's nowhere close.) Each book contains 24 preludes and fugues, one in each major and minor key, including obscure ones like C# major. The prelude #1 in book I is very famous. I recommend the recording (however heavly romanticised one) by Andreas Schiff. If possible, obtain book I first, and then obtain book II if you like it. They're almost always sold sepreately.
Goldberg Variations - These are a set of 24(?) variations based on a simple theme. Most people I talk to recommend the one by Glenn Gould.
Note: I'm not a big fan of vivaldi. I don't think highly of the seasons, and although some of the violin concertos are good, the rest are so-so. Not worth the money to buy a set of CDs, IMO.
I don't know enough about Handel to make a decision. I've listened to the Messiah a few times, but not enough. I'm not religious, so maybe that's why.
============
Classical:
============
Mozart: I don't know enough about his music, because IMO none of his music really stands out unlike other composers. But on average, I enjoy him a lot. Since his music is pretty consistent throughout his life, Mozart is about the _only_ composer I recommend buying a 3 or 5-cd boxed set that contains a bit of everything from his works.
One exception: The Requrium. This is simply a must. Listen to the first minute, and you'll what I mean. I prefer this over the matrix soundtrack.
Beethoven:
Oh, where to begin?
Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (Op. 67) - If you haven't heard the first movement, you literally fail at life. However, even if you have, be sure to listen through the entire symphony, in one stop. This is one work that I feel deserve to be overrated as it is.
Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (Op. 125) - The fourth movement contains the famous tune "Ode to Joy." However, the first, second, and third movements are equally deserving. I espeically enjoy the recatipulation in the 1st movement where the very first theme switches to D major, at fortissimo. The ~3-minute string fugue in the 4th movement is very epic too. Listen to the entire symphony at once. It's long (about 70 minutes) , but worth it.
Fact: Beethoven was completely deaf before starting work on this piece.
Symphony No. 7 in A Major (Op. 92) - This is statistically the most-performed beethoven symphony, and with good reason. The second movement is absolutely stunning. As with any slow movement, it can only be enjoyed fully while listening to the entire symphony.
Symphony No. 3 in Eb Major "Eroica" (Op. 55), No. 8 in F Major (Op. 93), No. 6 in F Major "Pastoral" (Op. 68) and Symphony No. 2 in D Major (Op. 36) are also very noteworthy.
I feel that this is one out of a few places you should obtain the entire set. There are many many recordings made for the symphonies, but you really can't go wrong with Herbert von Karajan.
Note that there are also modern recordings that "follow the metronome markings". (most recordings play it much slower than beethoven intended, especially from sym. no. 5 onward.) I own a recording by Benjamen Zander, which I enjoy a lot, but I dont' know enough about these recordings to give an opinion.
On to piano sonatas:
The ones most likely to be heard on a piano recital (in order of year composed) are:
No. 8 in C Minor "Pathetique" (Op. 13)
No. 14 in C# Minor "Moonlight" (Op. 27 No. 2)
No. 17 in D Minor "Tempest" (Op. 31 No. 2)
No. 21 in C Major "Waldstein" (Op. 53)
No. 23 in F Minor "Appassionata" (Op. 57)
No. 26 in Eb Major "Les adieux" (Op. 81a)
No. 27 in E Minor (Op. 90)
No. 28 in A Major (Op. 101)
No. 29 in Bb Major "Hammerklavier" (Op. 106)
No. 30 in E Major (Op. 109)
No. 31 in Ab Major (Op. 110)
No. 32 in C Minor (Op. 111)
Suggested listening: If you haven't heard any of these before, listen to the pathetique, appassionata, waldstein, and moonlight first.
The hammerklavier's 4th movement is essentially a 12-minute 4-part fugue. If you don't know what that means, it means it's extremely complex. In terms of difficulty, that single movement is the hardest out of any movement of beethoven piano sonatas.
I recommend the complete set of beethoven sonatas by Richard Goode. It might be a bit expensive (around $100), but It's one of the best investments I've made. (Remember though, the set is something like 11 cds though) People either love goode or hate it. If you aren't turned on by his style, the other famous sets are done by Richter and Brendel. Note: The set by Richard Goode are probably the only recordings I haven't been to locate anywhere on p2p. So you might want to save money for this, if for anything.
String Quartets:
The string quartet is one of beethoven's lesser-known accomplishments. Beethoven composed 15 in total, but each and every one is very distinctive. Even the first six, which is combined into one large opus (Op. 18) are nothing alike to each other. Nos 7, 8, 9, and 10 are probably the most famous. After No. 11, Beethoven experiments a lot with the music, and for beginning listeners it might be hard to understand. There are large amounts of fugue work involved in this ballpark.
I recommend the complete set of recordings by the Emerson Quartet and the Alban Burg Quartet. I haven't been able to locate the former on any p2p networks though.
In general, for beethoven, the complete set of symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets are pretty much must-haves for any classical enthusaist. However, the recommendations I listed might be a bit pricy, and probably nets over $350.
Note: Don't bother with Fur Elise. It's prehaps the second most overrated (after Packhell's Canon) classical piece evar. If you must, find the one with the most sharers and the lowest filesize and get it done with. And hope it's done by a 8-year old asian-nerd amature pianist (like myself, but i'm 16) who uses way too much pedal and makes it sound worse than G&L poop.
============
Romantic:
============
Violin Concertos
Because most composers only ever compose one violin concerto, I'm putting them in the same catagory.
Famous ones:
Bruch Violin Concerto in G Minor Op. 26
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64
Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 47
Brahms Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 77
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 35
Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major Op. 61 (not romantic, but i'm putting it in because it's also in D
)You can't go wrong with Perlman on the Mendelssohn, the Bruch, and the Tchaikovsky.
I've heard good things about Sarah Chang on the Beethoven. There's a video of her playing it, and it's really amazing to see how small her hands are, but they are so fast.
Girls at my school who play the violin look highly on Jousha Bell's Sibelius. (Appearantly he's really good at violin, he's hot/sexy, and he's rich) I don't have enough recordings to make a judgement.
Hilary Hahn is amazing for the Brahms.
Chopin:
Anything by chopin, you can't go wrong with. He didn't compose as much music as beethoven or later composers (he died young), but each and every one of them are amazing. Chopin was pretty much a 100% piano guy. The only times he ventured out of piano is to give the orchestra parts for his two piano concertos
I'll go over a brief overview:
Ballades: Other than the sonatas and concertos, Chopin's four ballades are the most mature works. I have a strong passion for the first one in G Minor (Op. 23). The recording made by Horowitz in his return to Carnagie Hall in the 1960s is sipmly breathtaking. If you can find it seperately, be sure to get it. Otherwise, i think you're forced to by the entire 10-cd collection.
Etudes: Chopin composed twelve Etudes in Op. 10, and twelve more in Op. 25. Etudes are pieces that are designed to be difficult, and are used to "show off" the pianist. Althought literally it means "practice piece", they aren't really used for practicing, and are performed as much as any other sonata/etc. Ones I particularly enjoy are: Op. 10 No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12 and Op. 25 No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, and 12. (Note that I included the majority of them
)Preludes: There are 24 preludes in the Op. 28 set, and three more composed much later. The Op. 28 set contains a prelude in every major and minor key. The preludes are very short, and the entire set takes about 20-30 minutes to perform. These are concidered "one work", you'll rarely find performers that don't perform all at the same time.
Schzeros: Other than the ballades, these are the next mature pieces, and are defintatly worth listening for anyone. No. 2 is played particularly often among my pianist friends.
Polonaises: Piano solos in the style of Polish nationalistic music, with a distinctive rhythm. However, if you haven't heard polish 19-th century music, it probably wont' sound polish at all, because it's more romantic than anything else.
Concertos and Sonatas: Chopin composed 3 sonatas and 2 concertos. These are a must-have.
I'm not a big fan of the waltzes, nocturnes, or mazurkas. There's a few of them to the contrary, including:
Op. 64 No. 1 "Minute Waltz"
Op. 64 No. 2
Nocture in E Minor
Nocturne in C# Minor Op. Posth
The fantasie impromptu is overrated, having performed it myself. Besides the triplet concurring with sixteenths rhythm (pain in the a$$ to count) there's not much. The middle section is so-so and the ending is horrible IMO. It's still worth a listen once or so.
Out of the above, the only must-haves are the 4 Ballades, the 24 Etudes, 3 Sonatas, 2 Concertos, and 4 Scherzos. After that, the 17(?) polonaises and selected waltzes, impromptus, nocturnes, and mazurkas are worth getting a recording of.
Unlike beethoven and a few other composers, there's no set of "definitive" recordings for chopin. As much as I don't like saying this, the best bet is to find someone famous on amazon.com and read the ignorant/dumb/biased/extremist/sexually-deprived reviews by the buyers.
Recordings I have recordings of and enjoy: Ashkenazy, Pollini, Argerich, Rubinstein, and Arrau.
Liszt
As with Chopin, there's no "definitive" recordings here either, so I'm not going to give specific recommendations to recordings. Amazon user-reviews are probably a bit more accurate here compared to Chopin, since the majority of Liszt pieces are designed to show-off to the audiences, so it doesn't take a music major to learn how to judge.
Like Chopin, Liszt composed pretty much all for piano. He was probably history's most successful pianist himself. (He turned into a monk later though. WTF?) And also like Chopin, anything by him is worth listening to. So I'm only listening the must-listens here:
Hungarian Rhapsodys 1-15 - Famous ones include #2, #6, #11, #12, and #15. As the title describes, they got a Hungarian style.
Transcendental Etudes - There are twelve of them. #10 is particularly famous.
Sonata in B Minor - Liszt only composed one sonata, and this is considered the most mature work he ever composed. Containing only one movement, but at >40 minutes long, this ranks top 5 in my all-time favorite pieces. I've got >20 different recordings of this work. My favorite goes out to the one by Yundi Li. (LiYundi for you asians)
There are many famous short piano works that warrent must-haveness. Instead of trying to find recordings that contain these, it's better to do the opposite, since most recordings include liszt as some type of "padding", if the cd doesn't reach 70 minutes and there's room for extra content. See the "virtuoso" section.
Rachmaninoff (spelled about 4 different ways, so take account of that when searching google/amazon)
My number 1 favorite classical work of all time (at least until i'm 20) is Rachmainoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor. It's considered the hardest concerto for the piano in the standard repitore, and it sounds equally difficult. It's a tremendous vitriouso piece, but also one of the most musical too. I'm willing to upload a copy of this somewhere to give people a taste (if someone would provide hosting). I'll upload the liszt sonata too.
I have over 20 recordings of this piece, and I recommend the 1978 recording of Horowitz with conductor Ormandy. There's a video of this floating around p2p somewhere.
After you get bored with Horowitz, Stephen Hough makes an excellent recording (extremely fast, but not as muscial).
There was a video of Olga Kern (winner of 2004 tchaikovsky competetion iirc) performing this piece. It's a highly dramatized one, and although her playing is not as good compared to horowitz, it's still worth taking a look at. Don't buy it though. A torrent was floating around a couple months ago. Maybe it's still active.
Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto is also one of the best works ever; i'd rank it my top 10. The piano takes a lesser role in this concerto, and it's much more lyrical than the third concerto. The first movement is extremely dark and depressing. The 2-3 minute segment before when the main theme comes back in is my favorite part of this concerto.
I suggest Ashkenazy's recording of this.
Varations on a Theme by Paganini is also a concerto work. (It's based on Paganini's 24th Violin Caprice) It's equally as as good as the above two concertos.
The above three works I feel everyone in the world should listen to at least once, alongside with Beethoven's fifth, etc. (Well, maybe except h|tler)
Besides Rachmaninoff's concertos, the preludes and etudes-tableaux are worth getting recordings of. Every one of them is distinct in style and texture. I only have 4-5 recordings of these, so I can't give recommendations. Amazon should help you out here.
Virtuosos
Many recordings aren't sold by composer, but by artist. Many of these are either full of short 2-8 minute pieces, or one long piece and couple short ones to make the full 70 minutes. These are definitely worth listening to.
Must-Haves:
Horowitz Encores
Volodos: Piano Transcriptions <- I got this from the library a week ago. It's simply breathtaking.
Perlman Encores
Perlman Bits and Pieces
Yundi Li - Liszt<- contains the liszt piano sonata.
I'll be updating with moretchaikovsky, etc
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