Great stuff indeed.
I used to have a theory that, if a person was humming a tune, there was a good chance that that tune had been written by Mozart or Beethoven. Most of us have no idea how much those tow contributed to our culture! There is nothing to be frightened of in Classical music. It's great coming across melodies you knew all your life, but might not have been able to put a name to.
Whilst I wouldn't force it on anyone (nothing could be more counter-productive of course) I do not think that there is anything better than an orchestra to bring out the best in hifi --- indeed, to challenge it! I can't help wondering, sometimes, what is the point of soundstage, separation, depth, etc, when one is only listening to four or five instruments, and maybe they are coming from a couple of electronic boxes on the stage too. But, when there are dozens of instruments, or even hundreds of people playing ...wow.
It's just a personal thing with me, but I am not that fond of solo violin, or small string groups. For me, carnatic music expresses how a violin should sound! Similarly, I find the classical-trained western voice, sometimes, hard to listen too. Partly because of the vibrato, it sounds a bit artificial to me.
We don't have to like it all: Western "Classical" covers different centuries, different genres, different countries. It is a huge box of chocolates, and we can pick the ones that we like.
PS... a few people here know that I am a great fan of Mahler's symphonies. I have known Nos 1 and 2 for a long time, and have seen them and "the Symphony of a thousand" (forget the number) live --- and am discovering the others of late. 3, I find lacks the coherence of 1 or 2, but 4 is sweet.
