BEST brand for Classical Recordings?

Detloff's answer is right. DG sounds like it does because they multi-mike everything, then use the engineer to mix everything the way the engineer feels sounds natural (not necessarily what the orchestra sounded like in the recording venue, either). On a revealing system this will usually show up (although their recent recordings sound reasonably good), but on an ordinary system that the masses use (including many music critics) it sounds fine. I agree with a lot of the posts above--for a "best" record company, you have to decide if you want sonics or great performers/performances. Actually, these days most classical labels do a decent recording job, although Reference, Telarc, Delos, Harmonia Mundi, EMI and London/Decca have consistently fine sound. It wasn't always that way--many Columbias/CBS and early digital recordings from the "major" labels sound downright awful. As far as performers and performances go, that's personal taste for the most part. Some of the performances panned above are pretty good, in my opinion, but that's my viewpoint only. The big names aren't always the best; many of the Naxos recordings are superb performances, but you'll be hard-pressed to recognize the artists. That's why I like having a good tuner and a good classical station, to sample the performances before I buy them.

In my earlier post, I recommended a book, but did not have the title exactly correct. The name of the book is: "The NPR Guide To Building A Classical CD Collection", and it is written by Ted Libbey. It was re-printed in 1999. The book does an excellent job of reviewing some 350 recordings that form the core of a good classical collection, and recommends the best recordings of each of the works. Hope it helps.

Hi, in my opinion Teldec and Telarc CD recordings, and all the mercury Living Presence CD recordings, sound super BRIGHT to the point of pain. The Sony CDs sound wonderful, whether you get super bit mapping versions or not.
SC

The reason that these three labels sound bright is that the absolute phase is reversed. If you listen with the phase correct, they don't sound bright.

Elgordo, I had never heard this! Thanks, I will try reversing the phase instead of putting these CDs away, never to play them again.
You learn something every day. Thanks again!