Best recording labels for orchestral music

In response to your last question, I now shop exclusively on the web. Here are the ones I frequent:

Amazon.com Marketplace - sellers like Caiman and Moviemars often have very low prices for new discs, and I've been using them for years.

MDT.co.uk - great for Europe-only releases, but the dollar has taken a beating.

HMV.co.jp - great for Japan-only releases. They have many excellent remasterings of great American recordings. Unfortunately, they only ship by express mail, and it's expensive. Americans don't buy enough to keep them in the catalog here.

Also, someome mentioned classicstoday.com for reviews. It's an excellent resource.

Generally speaking, I have not found the label alone to be a criterion for classical collecting. I typically research the artist/conductor/orchestra first, then filter selections further by recording quality. The fun thing about classical is that some of the greatest recordings are on mid-priced, even budget labels (i.e., Sony Essential Classics, DG Originals, RCA Living Stereo). Further, many great recordings have been issued several times, the most recent release almost always having improved sound. I've found the Hyperion and Chesky labels to be very good, but there are excellent recordings on just about every label. Also, SACD is a huge factor in classical, and hybrid discs are typically only a few more dollars (the same price in the case of RCA LS). Hope this helps.

Thought I'd add that I recently got the Sony, single SACD layer release of Bernstein's Gershwin, and it has spectacular sound. Sadly, it is out of print, but I found a copy from a specialty site. IMO, nobody played Gershwin or Copland like Bernstein. I've been through several Planets, and the one I liked most was by Steinberg/BSO, on the mid-priced DG Originals release. There is a great Ravel disc by Boulez/VPO on DG, and I've just ordered the SACD release of it.