When will there be decent classical music recordings?

A hearty seconding of rcprince's recommendation of the Harmonia Mundi label recordings. Great sound, great repertoire, great artists and performances. My favorite contemporary Classical label, by far.

@rcprince.
Very interesting and accurate comments on mic'ing techniques. And thanks for sharing your mixing experience.

As for Karajan, look how many of his DG recordings were later remixed and remastered due to his insistence on overseeing the engineering process.

I far prefer a slightly more distant perspective so I can hear the blend of voices and instruments called for by the composer.

Well said; that is my preference as well. I attend the symphony each season and enjoy a mid-hall sound experience.

Let me respectfully disagree re. Herbert von Karajan legacy, his Beethoven and Bruckner cycles will outlive all of us and our great-grandkids! Just because he embraced digital and DG used skewed RIAA does not make him inherently Evil! True, his Tchaikovsky sounds wrong to the slavic ears, but how could he (or anyone) present the 4th the "right way" if he'd never been immersed into "the birch in the meadow" Russian folk song playing nonstop from almost everywhere?!? 
True, unlike Bernstein he did not waste his life on interpreting Mahler, he (or anyone outside Mama Russia) had never had a chance to present Tchaikovsky the way Mravinsky did, so what?!?!  I still choose Monteaux for the simple beauty of the music, without those extras of "Russian Soul" anguish.
Let me clarify, Karajan is Not my all-time favorite (I dont have any) but to dismiss him as lifeless and digital Evil seems absolutely wrong to my slavic ears...
@tatyana69 check "music in the round" column of Stereophile mag, I cannot afford decent surround but if I could I would have started there. Love your point that given a chance more composers would have used surround-sound effects. Stockhausen with his three orchestras comes to mind but, again, where are the recordings, and where is my surround B&W 800-series speakers :-(   Until then I am going old-school

While "enhancing" instrumental balances and spatial effects may improve the "ear candy" appeal of some Classical music recordings, it will rarely improve the musical intent of the composer or the performers; and will most likely detract from it. It is a well established idea that composers did and do consider the audience’s perspective in a concert hall when composing and scoring. This consideration affects how they score the composition and partly determines which instruments or combination of instruments are assigned to specific musical lines. Some instruments, besides having their own unique tonal color, are capable of "projecting" more than others and this is taken into account. Additionally, good orchestral performers take great pains to blend with their musical colleagues in a way that serves the composer’s intent as indicated by dynamic markings in the score and by established performance values. In an orchestral (and chamber) performance setting this attention to balance and blend is one of the things that creates an environment condusive to really good music making. A good Classical music recording is one that does not interfere with the composer’s or performers’ musical intent. It takes a truly musically astute producer/engineer to not destroy those balances and who will "enhance" only when the limitations of the recording process and venue do not serve the composer’s and performers’ vision. Usually, less is more.