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Good classical music labels?

G

greg788

pfm Member
I'm going to greatly expand my classical collection soon. What are some good labels to look for? By good I mean you know the recordings are going to be top notch. The format will be compact disc ...
 
I'd say you had to go quite some distance to find bad recordings! The modern stuff tends to be very good, and there is a wealth of truly fabulous vintage recordings out there on labels like Decca, Mercury, RCA, Philips, DGG etc. I'm very seldom disappointed.
 
I've recently added the Mercury Living Presence Boxed Set to the The Decca Sound box set I got for Christmas. A total of 100 CDs of great music and performances for around £160 ish - you could do a lot worse. Some of the earlier recordings might not meet some hifi criteria, and I'm not sure about some of the Americana, but it matters little as they are a great buy.
 
Pretty much all classical music is well recorded these days. But watch out for Nimbus. They used to use a distant miking technique, not sure if they still do, which was like listening through the wrong end of a telescope.

Some orchestras' "own label" recordings have not received plaudits for their sound quality, but I've not heard any myself.
 
DavidD said:
I've recently added the Mercury Living Presence Boxed Set to the The Decca Sound box set I got for Christmas. A total of 100 CDs of great music and performances for around £160 ish - you could do a lot worse. Some of the earlier recordings might not meet some hifi criteria, and I'm not sure about some of the Americana, but it matters little as they are a great buy.
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Yes, I have the Decca set and am humming and hahring over the Mercury set. I agree about (in some cases) the quality of early recordings but in most cases the quality of the performance makes it well worthwhile. (damn, I`ll be hankering after SET amps soon)
 
ciderglider said:
Pretty much all classical music is well recorded these days. But watch out for Nimbus. They used to use a distant miking technique, not sure if they still do, which was like listening through the wrong end of a telescope
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I was listening to some Nimbus recordings at the weekend, and personally I didn't find them that bad. It's certainly a more distant perspective that what someone like Mercury used to achieve, but personally I prefer that kind of approach to a close miked one. It's all down to personal preference I guess.

As mentioned earlier it's rare to get an absolute dog of a recording these days.

Also look at labels such as Brilliant who reissue older recordings by other companies. As I've said in another thread I recently bought a complete set of Prokofiev symphonies by them for under a tenner. They're mid 70s Decca recordings recorded in the Kingsway Hall by Decca's best engineer, superb value.
 
Barrymagrec said:
Yes, I have the Decca set and am humming and hahring over the Mercury set
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The American reviewers rave about the Mercury recordings, but I find many of them too close. Perhaps they sound better in larger American listening rooms. I bought 20-30 of them when they were first issued on CD but had mixed feelings about them.

The Decca set has been on my wish list for some time, I'll have to pull the trigger before too long.
 
Stunsworth said:
The American reviewers rave about the Mercury recordings, but I find many of them too close. Perhaps they sound better in larger American listening rooms. I bought 20-30 of them when they were first issued on CD but had mixed feelings about them.

The Decca set has been on my wish list for some time, I'll have to pull the trigger before too long.
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It has often seemed to me that many American recordings of the fifties and sixties were markedly inferior to the majority of EMI, Decca and DG releases. Not all which makes it all the more odd. Some of the Met Opera recordings from that period are barely better than pre war efforts.
As I get older though I find that a great performance often outweighs poor recording - I must be on a downgrade trail.
 
Barrymagrec said:
It has often seemed to me that many American recordings of the fifties and sixties were markedly inferior to the majority of EMI, Decca and DG releases
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I totally agree, CBS recordings from that period were recorded so close as to be virtually unlistenable.

Early RCA was something of an exception to the above. Some of the Reiner symphonic recordings with the Chicago Symphony are very good indeed.
 
Stunsworth, have you had any experience with Spanish Harmonia Mundi pressings done by Edigsa, Barcelona? I came across a set of them, but have no idea if they are worth the money or is it better to look for French originals? Thanks, phi
 
phixphi said:
Stunsworth, have you had any experience with Spanish Harmonia Mundi pressings done by Edigsa, Barcelona? I came across a set of them, but have no idea if they are worth the money or is it better to look for French originals? Thanks, phi
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I've no idea I'm afraid, but if we're talking about CDs I wouldn't expect them so be very different. However that's just a guess on my part.
 
Don't forget Naxos - they do some smashing recordings and at excellent prices.

If you like Choral music, I can highly recommend the Decca Magnificat boxed set, which spans 500 years of choral music in 50 CDs. IIRC it costs just over £100.
 
I always find EMI CDs a little disappointing compared either to DGG or to the EMI vinyl efforts of 40+ years ago.

CBS recordings are generally terrible on vinyl; don't know if they're now any better (I've an idea they were absorbed into Sony, in which case they're not bad...)
 
Alia Vox

Yarlung

BIS

Hyperion

Harmonia Mundi

ECM new series

john marks records

acousense records

2l records

5/4 productions


Blue Coast Records

MA Recordings
 
Mark Pope said:
Don't forget Naxos - they do some smashing recordings and at excellent prices.

If you like Choral music, I can highly recommend the Decca Magnificat boxed set, which spans 500 years of choral music in 50 CDs. IIRC it costs just over £100.
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Naxos has no in house producer or anyone steady so their sound is all over the map...


RCA Living Stereo

and Mercury Living Presence are my gold standard

http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/mercury.html
 
Stunsworth said:
The American reviewers rave about the Mercury recordings, but I find many of them too close. Perhaps they sound better in larger American listening rooms. I bought 20-30 of them when they were first issued on CD but had mixed feelings about them.

The Decca set has been on my wish list for some time, I'll have to pull the trigger before too long.
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I disagree totally. How would LESS distance sound better in larger listening rooms?? they were recorded with the same mic placement/distance as the european colleagues. perhaps even MORE distance... Microphones dont really allow for variation in terms of recording distance....

as for CBS.... The Firebird and Petrouchka (sp), Sacre Du, Entremont Rachmaninoff 2nd, an 1956 Mahoganny, Tchaikovsky 2nd with gary grafman, Juilliard String Quartet's 1974 recording of Ginasteras 2nd String Quartet, , Waverly Consort, Christmas Story... I could go on all night..


OP, get anything Tony Faulkner has recorded and youll be golden. :)

[youtube]8uCcFIyJJ-w[/youtube]
 
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