1. EMI
Sound has never been less than brilliant for me.  They use abbey road
after all.  Repertoire is the main reason.  I have so many British Composers
CDs...  And most are midprice too.  Artists...  Well they have Boult pretty
much, Barbirolli, a lot of Klemperer, Callas, Mackerras, Marriner (philips
really own him though don't they), a lot of Rattle.  Quite an impressive
line up.

2. Naxos
They just keep getting better and better.  They have faultless sound and
seem to keep churning out great stuff e.g.  Sibelius 1&3, Walton, Bax etc.
And at the right price.  Their repertoire is so expansive.  They deserve
success.

3. Philips
This is mainly on the basis of their Duo series, which I think is
excellent.  You get normally REALLY good performances albeit older ones for
effectively half price.  Sound is always very good though - I presume they
clean them up.  With the likes of Colin Davis, Arrau, Kovacevich, Grumiaux,
Marriner.  They strike me as being very much in the standard repertoire
though.

4. Chandos
They keep making premier recordings which has to be a good thing.  Sound
is always very good.  They do 20bit now don't they.  Some good stuff on
Collect as well which is much cheaper.  They have Hickox, Jarvi, Segerstam,
Thompson.  Not la creme de la creme but great musicians.  Chandos direct is
obviously great if you can't get to a record shop too easily.

5. Decca
Their 2 for 1 series is also good, but I don't think as good as Philips.
They have a lot of good opera it seems (well they have solti).  Ovation is
excellent (some good Herb on there).  Lots of Britten - they had the only
war requiem for a while.  Sound good as you would expect from a big label.

6. Hyperion
Period instrument galore.  They seem to have reached out way beyond the
standard repertoire and have some very wierd and wonderful things.  Have
the best B Minor mass in my opinion.  Not on the cheap side it has to be
said.  Sound great.

7. DG
Well, it has got the ultimate Mahler symphony cycle, most of JEG's
stuff, etc It has the really great names, even a couple of Carlos Kleibers
performances which is very impressive.  Its really good stuff you have to
pay for though, there doesn't seem to be a lot of stuff on the mid or less
price.  Possibly the best sound.  4D is good.

David Stewart
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