Roadtrip - Playlist and invitation for suggestions?

I have an 8 hour road trip today to go meet my nephew! I think we will start with:

Vladimir Horowitz Plays Chopin

Emerson String Quartet - Brahms Complete String Quartets

Then I am thinking Beethoven Piano Concertos and Sonatas

I also have Vladimir Horowitz at Carnegie Hall - Haydn & Beethoven

Any other suggestions from the peanut gallery of classical music to drive to?

Brahms for sale and The Nose

This week I received two great leads:

1) William Kentridge’s set design for the Shostakovich Opera “The Nose” will be at The Metropolitan Opera in February
2) Amazon.com was having a sale on a collection called “The 99 Most Essential Brahms Masterpieces” for 1.99 (Now that it is OFF sale it is a bank-breaking $5.99)

I have already lined up nearly the worst seats in the house for a performance of The Nose. I know that the $20 dollar tickets aren’t ideal, but this is my first Opera experience and I am excited for it!

The Brahms collection is actually excellent. At 6 dollars I think it is still a very smart buy! The more I listen the more I find themes that I have heard throughout my life. After Beethoven, it is a welcome change to have the broad sweeping romantic tones of Brahms.

Having started with Bach, then to Beethoven now Brahms, I now feel like I am getting at least a broad sense of the lineage of these towering figures.

The Beginning

I listen to a fair amount of pop music and jazz. I love music. I commute with it an hour in the morning and an hour at night...my iPod is my soundtrack daily. I listen to Pandora at work when its slow in the gallery and on my computer at home when I am working. In this way I am totally normal. My taste in music is all over the place. I love moody pop music and have been listening to Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors and TV on the Radio in heavy rotation. I do love jazz, especially Miles Davis - the whole catalog.
I have always liked Classical music, but have never pursued it.
Today during my commute I decided that I would immerse myself in it for a year. I would learn it like a language. Composers first, mostly by chronological order then maybe conductors and eventually modern composers like Glass or Cage or Feldman.

So please feel free to offer suggestions and let me know what I should listen to and what I should learn.

Jeff