Are there any "fool proof" record labels? conductors? performers?

[Reverend Bong]

Harmonia Mundi.

[RJR]

I suggest trying charity shops in Portland, as well as shops that sells used Cds and Lps. They usually are very inexpensive and might give you more variety to choose from.

[Mirror Image]

Harmonia Mundi.

I disagree. I heard a Debussy chamber music recording that I felt was subpar. Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp wasn't a great performance. The harp was buried beneath the flute and viola.

[Daverz]

I am building a collection by shopping for used CD recordings on the Internet from a charity website.  What this means is I am shopping amongst other people's discards.  I have been looking through an old (2006) Gramophone guide, but  I am not finding very many of the titles with high ratings in my price range.

A thrift/charity store will have tons of crap to sift through, assuming you know what to look for.   Not worth the beginning collector's time. 

The usual advice here is still good: find a good classical music radio station (I like KUSC's Internet feed).  To that we can now add Internet music streaming services and Youtube.  Don't forget the local public library.  Make a note of anything that catches your ear.

If I was starting over, and I wanted physical product*, I would take advantage of what now seems to be a golden age of cheap box sets from the major labels.  You still need to do a bit of research here, though, as this can be like drinking from a firehose, and not all these big boxes are worthy purchases. 

* Some people here are happy with the variety on the better streaming services and don't bother with physical product any more. 

[Reverend Bong]

I disagree. I heard a Debussy chamber music recording that I felt was subpar. Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp wasn't a great performance. The harp was buried beneath the flute and viola.

Oh no! My illusions are shattered.  My own limited experience of HM has been of uniformly exceptional recording quality, at least on CD, maybe some of my earlier LPs don't stand out from the crowd so markedly.  Of course the repertoire is something that may or may not interest the OP, but until I read this I would have said he was at least guaranteed an immaculate performance and unusually good sound.
The only thing I could question on any of my HM CDs is an audible edit on the otherwise magnificent and deeply moving account of Tancred & Clorinda by Clemencic, which doesn't prevent it being without doubt my favourite version.

[DavidRoss]

Oh no! My illusions are shattered.

Perceptive lad, ain'tcha?

[Daverz]

HM is excellent in chamber music (e.g. Jerusalem & Casals Quartets; Wanderer Trio).  Not much of their other repertoire interests me.

[Sammy]

I disagree. I heard a Debussy chamber music recording that I felt was subpar. Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp wasn't a great performance. The harp was buried beneath the flute and viola.

You're going to dump on a label because of one performance you didn't care for?  That doesn't make any sense.

[Reverend Bong]

In my, again limited, experience, the DG reissue series called 'The Originals' with the legend 'original image bit-processing' on the front are uniformly excellent in both performance and sound.

[Que]

In my, again limited, experience, the DG reissue series called 'The Originals' with the legend 'original image bit-processing' on the front are uniformly excellent in both performance and sound.

I guess my 1st utterance of blasphemy will be that not in all cases the reissue sounds better that its original. Older tapes sometimes give worse results, even if the remastering process has advanced in the meantime. And sometimes the remastering was too intrusive - sound engineers cannot but help themselves to "improve" on the work of their predecessors.

Secondly, not all recordings in that series have stood the test of time all that successfully.

Q

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I guess my 1st utterance of blasphemy will be that not in all cases the reissue sounds better that its original. Older tapes sometimes give worse results, even if the remastering process has advanced in the meantime. And sometimes the remastering was too intrusive - sound engineers cannot but help themselves to "improve" on the work of their predecessors. Q

I think that's right on the money, Q. Not blasphemy at all. All the latest gadgetry in the remastering world can't salvage a decayed tape or inept remastering engineering.

[jut1972]

I've been into classical only for a couple of years and if you want physical products then the big box sets are the way to go.  You build up a decent size collection quickly at low cost.  Sure you will be buying some recordings you dont like but the majority are decent recordings (hence they are included..) and allow you to find the music you like.  Then you can try some different recordings based on reviews, recommendations etc.

The best ones I have found are the 111 collections by DG (hard to find at reasonable prices now)
The Chandos 30 box
Decca sound
Pretty much anything by brilliant classics who have the price / quality ratio right.

Or try the bbc radio 3 building a library web site..

[stingo]

No label is fool proof, but I really like Brilliant Classics. They're inexpensive and have a wide range of warhorses and unusual repertoire in good to great performances.