I can't believe no one has mentioned Philips, which has some truly stellar performers and performances, recorded with true concert hall perspective--no artificial emphasis on any instrument or section of the orchestra as in many Decca, DG, Sony, etc. The Philips two-fers are far better values than even Naxos, with some unmatched performances and perfectly suitable if not outstanding recordings from the golden days of analog--late 60's to early 80's. Stay away from almost any recordings made digitally before about 1990, except Telarc, which got digital right from the outset, but has strayed into "hi-fi" territory too much lately. I find RR recordings bloated and overblown, with generally uninspired performances. Hyperion usually has very realistic chamber music recordings, but sometimes they allow too much reverb. A lot of the RCA Red Seal classics are superb, but some are rather overdone at the frequency extremes, and can sound congested in climaxes. The old Mercury stuff can be very sharp on top due to the type of recorders they used, but the orchestral perspective is realistic.
