Some great sounding classical "warhorses" ??

Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture on Tellarc.

also highly recommend this version of Mahler Symphony no.5 with Riccardo Chailly

I’m a long-time, heavy-duty, classical-music audiophile with a large classical CD collection (over 2,000 classical CDs), including multiple versions of all the “warhorses” on your list. Here are my recommendations for your choices, based on a balanced consideration of excellent performance and excellent sound.

1. Chabrier, Espagna. Dutoit, Montreal, Decca/London.
2. Bizet, Carmen Suites. Dutoit, Montreal, Decca/London.
3. Elgar, Enigma Variations. Andrew Davis, BBC, Teldec. A stunning recording, engineered by the great Tony Faulkner. May be hard to find, but well worth seeking out.
4. Britten, Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. The famous conductor-led performance on Decca/London is very fine but is not captured in the very best sound, even for its day. The Andrew Davis, BBC version on Teldec is terrific, engineered by the great Tony Faulkner. Again, it might be hard to find, but it’s well worth the search. My second choice is Previn, Royal Philharmonic, Telarc. Both of these have much better sound than the Britten-led performance.
5. Bernstein, Candide Suite. No recommendation.
6. Orff, Carmina Burana. Three good choices: Blomstedt, San Francisco, Decca/London (Grammy winner). Slatkin, St. Louis, RCA. Dutoit, Montreal, Decca/London. All three of these have excellent sound.
Happy listening.

Guys, I knew I would get some fine responses to this query and my "cart" on Amazon is starting to fill up! So good of y'all to help out.

You also try the 'Naxos' label for cheap but good recordings.

For Elgar and Britten, check out this review of a new release by Paavo Jarvi and Cincinnati:

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/reviews/review.asp?reviewnumber=11818933

The review of the performance is favorable, and talks about the recorded sound a lot. But read the caveats about the two-channel sound.

I saw these forces do Mahler's 9th in Cincy Sat. night. 'twas very nice.

Steve O.

Chabrier - Ansermet on London (Also on a Merc Living Presence by Paray if you like Merc's).

Carmen Suite #1 Beecham on EMI. And for something different and something I greatly prefer is the Shchedrin rescoring of the work for strings and 47 precussion instruments. I like Schwarz and the LA Chamber Orchestra.

Elgar - Enigma Variations - Andrew Davis & the BBC SO on Teldec

Britten - YPGTTO - Andrew Davis - Teldec

Rimsky-Korsakov - Cappriccio Espagna - Jarvi - Chandos Get the entire set of suites they are outstanding.

Bernstein - Candide - Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra on Reference Recording, or for something with more common Bernstein pieces added on Slatkin and the Saint Louis Orchestra on EMI.

Orff - Caarmina Burana - Ozawa and the Boston SO or Shaw on Telarc.

Hope that helps a bit.

Telarc is a good label for excellent sound.

For Espana--get the Mercury Living Presence re-issue (Paray, I believe), it's an excellent transfer

Candide--Reference Recordings, it has both the overture and a new, I believe, suite in spectacular sound

Carmina Burana--the Telarc recordings from Atlanta, both Shaw (a little plain but still a good reading) and Runnicles are very good

Young Person's Guide--try to find the London low-priced re-issue of Britten's own recording, it's coupled with his Simple Symphony and is a very good transfer.

I'm still looking for the others that I'd recommend on the silver disc, though I'm happy with the vinyl for now (Reference Recordings has a Capriccio Espagnol on one of its Minnesota Orchestra series that was pretty good, but I've heard better interpretations). For the Elgar I believe that there was a BBC Music CD that was very good, I'll have to check my collection.