BEST brand for Classical Recordings?

Jorge,

I'm not sure you can point to one label and call it the best for classical. DG has released some that are wonderful, some are ordinary at best. Ditto Teldec, Sony, Decca, etc. My favorite (remember "my") label for sonics is Telarc. Find the sound to be consistently excellent, but there are dissenters. Also, there is not enough serious stuff on the label to suit my tastes.

The best value in CDs - one Sam Tellig has written about at least a couple of times - is Naxos (IMHO). Rarely will you get a clunker musically or sonically. You just don't get the marquee names. Of course, that's how Klaus keeps the costs realistic. They have won a number of awards in Grammaphone and Penguin guides, among others. In sum, if someone wants to build a good classical discography and doesn't want to float a second mortgage, he can't do any better than Naxos.
www.naxos.com if you want to give 'em a look.

Cheers

I am not a huge classical fan however I really like the way Telarc and Delos sound. Delos has such a detailed and dynamic soundstage it would probably be my favorite but Telarc is so accurate it is worth mentioning.

Reference Recordings. They have a great web site with all of their titles listed.

I am only beginning to "get into classical" but have noticed that there is some excellent recordings of not so well-played music (Reference Recording of Copland Fanfare comes to mind) that are not as enjoyable to listen to as a less recording of a better performance. I have purchased a couple of the 24/96 digital master from original master tape and they are great performances and sound just fine.

while not offering much "mainstream" music, lyrita recorded some of the most spectacular classical lp's ever. i find harmonia mundi and bis to offer consistently excellent classical cd's, also on the more obscure side. _kelly