There are plenty of places on the internet to read reviews of classical CDs and DVDs, as well as live performances. Unfortunately, a number of excellent classical music critics have been let go from newspapers and magazines around the country for various reasons too complex to discuss here, but fortunately there is still plenty of coverage of classical music in the New York Times and other leading newspapers in such major cities as Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, LA, Washington, Dallas, Houston and other of the nation's leading centers of classical music.
Among the top classical music critics in America are Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times, John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune, Alex Ross of the New Yorker magazine, Justin Davidson of New York magazine (note the difference in magazine titles please ), Alan Rich in LA, Jeremy Eichler of the Boston Globe, Anne Midgette of the Washington Post, Scott Cantrell in Dallas, Tim Mangan of the OC Register and others. You can read their reviews and commentary on the internet, or subscribe or visit your local book store.
For magazines reviewing classical CDs, DVDs and sometimes covering live performances , are England's The Gramophone , gramophone.co.uk, the American Record Guide, americanrecordguide.com , Fanfare magazine, Fanfaremag.com, classicstoday.com, and classicalcdreview.com .
Once you have become familiar with classical music, it's always interesting to see if you agree with the critics or not.