Fred, borrowing CDs from the library is good for getting an idea about the specific music involved, but the performance and the sound quality on the disc are also very important and could lead to disappointment that wouldn't happen with the same music, but better performance and sound. The point is that it isn't helpful sometimes to buy or borrow a disc just because it happens to contain certain musical compositions. Some have scores of different CDs available, and they vary widely in quality, with resulting musical enjoyment also varying.
I'll suggest the following specific CDs:
The Planets ;
Swan Lake ;
Symphonic Dances ;
Hungarian Dances ;
Vocalise ;
Stravinsky collection ;
Latin American collection(buy from Amazon seller) . These aren't necessarily what are considered the "great" classical compositions, but they're colorful and exciting music(the Moffo CD which includes the Vocalise is the most beautiful vocal collection that I've ever heard)that should appeal to most listeners.
