I have a large collection of classical CDs which I hardly resort to any more. When I moved to London in the early 70s it was still vinyl (pops and scratches, and I knew when every single one was coming) and cassettes (tangles, wow and flutter). One had to put up with all that in those days but at least the recordings (if not the sound quality or musicality) were flawlessly edited. Then the "perfection" of CDs came along...

Therein lay my difficulty. My musical brain was miseducated into expecting unblemished playing, so when I started going to classical concerts on the South Bank I couldn't enjoy even my most favourite pieces for fear of hearing "mistakes," even though the music was always being performed by the great and the good of classical music (I won't do any boring name-dropping). It took me several years to realise that music is made by human beings, not computer software, so I agree that hearing a live symphony orchestra (or chamber orchestra string quartet of soloist) at least once, preferably far more than that, is a sine qua non when it comes to acquiring the understanding, the beauty and the humanity of great music.

Like Joe I live in a remote little town of about ten thousand people. Access to one of our major symphony orchestras is difficult and will be very occasional at best. But we have a local music society that brings in guests and we have our own little town concert orchestra. The conductor and his missus (who's the leader of orchestra) are known to us and we enjoy a friendly relationship. Their concerts are pretty ambitious and are very popular with us locals. All more than good enough for me!