I have installed mpd (Music Player Daemon) to act as my server.
However, to play music through mpd you need a frontend (client).
Any recommendations as to frontend?
A very simple frontend is →Madman, I use it with xmms (still using openSUSE 11.2 here) and mpd and enjoy its minimalistic approach (no coverfetching, Wikipedia-articles, bonus radio stations or the like). It is very fast in managing huge collections and has superb auto-DJ capabilities. Unfortunately it is not developed anymore (yet is offered via Packman), but I still recommend it highly.
If you prefer a console frontend, give →ncmpc a try, it offers a comfy ncurses-UI. Other mpd-frontends are listed →here.