Depends on what you really mein with classical Music.

the Common sense or the correct One.

how ever, you have mentioned Vivaldi so I assume you mean common sense.

recommendations will follow

You mean easily available as in 'on demand streaming'  or accessible for a newcomer's mind? Assuming more weightage to the latter, here's a few works:

So, I stick my neck out with the following, to give you that "peaceful, easy feeling", a keep it simple list:

Haydn's "London" Symphonies, Symphony no. 93 till 104 ( try 94 "Surprise",100"Military", 101"Clock", 103 "Drumroll"), Sir Colin Davis conducting Royal Concertgebow Orchestra. Haydn not considered Top Echelon by the establishment, but eminently listenable. Phillips Duo CD's offer good value too.

Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Opus 73, Stephen Bishop Kovacavich on piano, Sir Colin Davis conducts the London Symphony Orchestra

Chopin Etudes, nice version played by Ashkenazy.

Scherezade, Rimsky Korsakov. I have old Russian vinyl, too good, too good.

Disclaimer; I have little exposure to classical music; however, limited might be better in the context of this question.

I agree mostly with skipper's recommendations. For a beginner, look to the romantic period. Concertos might hold a child's interest more than symphonies. Composers like Hayden, Beethoven, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky can be both engaging and commanding. Light at times, yet emotional at others. 

As for Chopin; too complex for the beginner. For a single beginner's piece, try Mozart " Eine kleine Nachtmusik". I'm sure you can translate and have heard it. The Nutcracker may be a good one for this time of year .  No doubt that will be heard on a hundred TV ads for the season. Best wishes.

+1 for Haydn's Symphony 94. This my favourite piece of classical music, really beautiful and your 2 year old may even recognise  the second movement.

Handel's Concerto Grosso No. 4 is worth a listen, as is Grieg's Peer Gynt and Brahms Hungarian dances.

I use Shazam a fair bit. Not always for classical. It's amazing how quick you can join the dots once you get your teeth into something. Also if I hear an appealing classical piece being used as a film/programe/ad  sound track I Google it further.

I also very much enjoyed the recent "Symphony" series on BBC4. I expect it had a narrow and skewed perspective, stuff like this usually does. But it gave me some people and pieces to investigate.

I find the times, social circumstances and politics which surround a lot of classical material fascinating. It certainly makes todays shiny music industry look more superficial than ever. And for sheer power and dynamics, an orchestra going up to eleven from a standing start is something you just can't get anywhere else. 

It still accounts for only about 5% of my listening though.

As to what's good/accessible and what isn't, well.......

Found Sir Colin Davis - The Philips Years on Spotify. It's a 15 CD set. :-)

What is the 'correct one'?

I think ragman is trying to score cheap 'intellectual' points off a newcomer to a style of music. Poor show.

In answer to your perfectly reasonable question, classical music strictly refers to the period from (very roughly) 1750 until 1820, which encompasses Mozart's output and runs until mid-period Beethoven. For a number of reasons, the term has, over the years, become used in a generic sense to mean, well, all classical music. There isn't really another easy phrase for it, but we all know it when we hear it, for the most part: orchestral music, or music written for orchestral instruments probably sums it up fairly well. I've seen an attempt to call it 'music in the classical tradition', but I'm not sure that pleases anyone except the pedants.

For reference, the periods of classical music break down roughly as follows:

Mediaeval: anything from plainsong (aka Gregorian chant) until everything started getting all embryonic-orchestral and harpsichord (say, 1100 until 1650)

Baroque: from then until Bach kicks the bucket (1650 until 1750)

Classical: from then until Beethoven starts to change everything (1750-1820)

Romantic: from then until everything goes all 20th century (1820-1910)

Since then, there hasn't really been one name for the period, because composers started to go their own ways under names like 'serialism' or 'neoclassical'.

Musicologists will argue until the end of time about the exact dates I've tried to fix above, and even about whether such labels are helpful (in general, yes, but for specialist use, probably not), but try to ignore them.

Hope that's helpful and not patronising...

Mark

'Corrret on' is

the early classical perio from 1730–1770 and the vienna classical periode from 1770 bis 1830 (death of Schubert / Beethoven).

Vivaldi and J.S. Bach still living but the Bach son's especially the onse wo have inspired Mozart I would mention as the early beginning.

On the other hend I believe you don't want to be reduced on this periode and use the topic classical music in a wider and more common sense that include more or less as well the Baroque periode and earlier music and as well the romantic time after Schubert and Beethoven.

Can not believe you will not hear as well Schumann, Medtner, Chopin, Alkan (you have to), Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich

Mark,

if you think so. There is not some speciall 'intellectual" behind my question. I just wanted to know what Mongo is really looking for.

Poor show from you side BTW.

It's about time.... Ok here is where to start...  Anything by the great American composer Elliott Carter.   the best recording I've heard is available in 192/24 on hdtracks called  Figments and Fragments.  Go get it now.  Ok so maybe it's not really accessible but he was arguably the greatest American composer....

I have a set of the complete works of Aaron Copland which is an enjoyable listening experience.  It's not  complicated and contains many well known melodies.  I am sure most of his works are accessible to even your little boy.

Hilary Hahn's recording of Bach Concertos has been one of my 7 year olds favorites from birth.  It is now available in a 24 bit download.

Now this might be a bit controversial but Steve Reich is a favorite of mine.  My daughter hates when I play Drumming but she likes Sextet and Six Marimbas.

Steve Reich is great. We saw him perform Clapping as the opener for a recent concert when the new Radio Rewrite was premiered. His reception was more like that seen at rock concerts. It was fascinating to be at a concert where the composer was there - at the end he got on stage and applauded the musicians.

Double Sextet is a favourite of mine, along with WTC, which is a very moving piece, as is Different Trains.

For accessible classical, the recent Rachel Podger CD of Vivaldi's La Cetra violin concertos is highly recommended.

Oh and of course Prokoviev 's Peter and the Wolf.

A big +1  for that one.

downloading Bach by Hilary Hahn now ..

Got loads of playlists on spotify to go through - 256KBps sounds good enough .. 

Well, maybe it just goes to show how tone is easily misinterpreted in electronic communications. In any case, you might want to avoid referring to MangoMonkey as 'Mongo' in the future: it has unfortunate connotations that I'm sure you wouldn't want to be associated with.

Mark

Hi Ming,

The Naive label has just re-released a collection that you may find interesting :

La Collection naïve is 16 recordings that, through the choice of works and the quality of performance, have stood the test of time.  Every one is a rare and precious jewel waiting to be discovered or revisited.  The performances are from some of naïve's most recognized and beloved artists including Mark Minkowski, Sandrive Piau, Gregory Sokolov, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Philippe Jaroussky. 

http://www.classicsonline.com/...ollection-Naive.html

Enjoy

Jan

And Qobuz is selling them right now for €5 in 44.1/16 and for €7.50 in 44.1/24

cheers

Aleg

And for €7,49 each, in 24/44.1 at Qobuz ($10.99 in 16/44.1 at ClassicsOnline). Sale still running for 12 days.

Thanks for the tip, Jan !

EDIT: Oooops, beaten.

Mozart: Symphonies No 39, 40, 41
Performances by Abbado, Bernstein or, why not, Colin Davis (from The Philips Years)

Still Mozart: Piano Concerto, let's say, no. 21. By Perahia, Pollini...

Beethoven, Violin Concerto. By Menuhin or Heifetz.

Schumann, Piano Concertos. By Perhia.

Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto 1. Argerich.

- Swan Lake or some ballet suites compilation.

That would be for starters.

Colin Davis - the philips years should show up on my doorstep today.

That's great, the next thing you might need, is Berliner Philharmoniker: Centenary Edition, and you'd be pretty much sorted.

The only dilemma you'll have, will be, which disc to actually listen to.

I would also put Mendelssohn's violin concerto and Beethoven's 6th symphony high on beginner's list.

Sweet anticipation. Delicious huh?

I cannot think of a 'downloads' equivalent . . 

How many CD's?

Let et me look at your purchase on A'zon. Happy listening!