High quality CD recordings

Hi Broadstone. Record guidebooks and reviews can be an excellent resource for finding quality recordings. Have you ever checked out the PENQUIN RECORD GUIDE or GRAMMAPHONE ? In my opinion they are a must!! I've found the specialty labels are in no way the only source for quality; and thank goodness - their catalogs are "so" limited. My experience is you 'can' find excellent recordings on many labels, but the specialist labels like Reference Recordings and Chesky, to name only 2,are consistent in their quality.
There are hundreds - no 'thousands' of excellent Deutsche Grammophon, RCA, Telarc,etc classical recordings; and "countless" good jazz recordings on a great variety of labels. It's a matter of finding them. For example I've got STINGRAY MUSIC on my TV via cable and just heard, while typing this, Anthony Spiri on CPO RECORDS playing a Piano sonata by Edward Marksen from the album Klavier Works? Even though it's low res through the TV I found the sound to be very nice, natural and nuanced. Of course the CD or DVD through my ref Spectral system will provide a far clearer and much more emotional view of this album; but just that listening has encouraged me to request my library bring it in for me -and they probably will. I can discuss finding good recordings more if you like. I also like recordings from South America and European countries. I've had some excellent recordings from Russian labels totally unknown to me and not reviewed outside Russia! It's a big world and I've found that in the Classical and Jazz music fields a love of providing good sounding music is pervasive. Great for us! Just reread your post. Sorry I strayed off your request. Will send some labels later.

Thanks, Ptss. I'm looking forward to your recommendations. I've been spending hours auditioning some of the CDs suggested in this thread and have been pretty consistently happy with them. Right now I'm listening to sound that is at least equal to the best I've ever heard from my system which inspired me to look at the case to determine who did the recording. When I looked up, though, I saw that the blue HDCD on my player was lit. This raises another question; could the excellence I'm hearing in this instance be at least partly a result of the format or is it simply the quality of the recording independent of the format?

I know there are arguments, even here on Audiogon, which differ on the subject but I would like to hear from you on this thread who obviously pay significant attention to the importance of recording quality.

I 2nd. Reference Recordings and Chesky. Formerly, Telarc were considered in that league, now, although I still enjoy many of the Telarc CD's that I own, I no longer consider them as having the same recording qualities as the former two.

Hello again and thank you Broadstone. The co-inventor of HDCD, Keith Johnson, is the same genius behind the Spectral gear and Reference Recordings. He has been fanatical about every step of his recordings--he can afford to as I believe one of his early innovations was a major factor in cassette duplication-probably providing a decent income! His partner at Spectral, Richard Fryer, is also simply "fanatical" about leading the pack. Briefly, I feel the quality of REFERENCE RECORDINGS offerings is definitely due to Johnson's genius and his design work with Spectral as he hand built some recording equipment used in recording for Reference. Thanks to Richard Fryer, of Spectral Audio, for the repetoire of Reference Recordings, and thanks to KEITH JOHNSON, true Polymath, for bringing the recordings to life.
I feel their recording quality is unsurpassed, and they have introduced real genius players, for example Kronos Quartet (I'm lucky enough to have their first Reference Recording with a piece called "Funky Chicken" if my memory serves me, so their ears are good). IMHO one could do well to acquire ALL their recordings-I know they will stand the test of time. Philips (hope my spelling is right-I've had some fine rye tonight celebrating that I go in for more heart surgery at 6am tomorrow((if I don't post again you know why :-) . My friends say I'll be fine as only the good die young; and 65 is the new 40)) label also has countless beautifully recorded albums by fabulous artists. I'll post more if I'm not busy talking to Twain, Dickens,Poe, Orwell, Kafka,Carroll, Huxley, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven,Matisse,Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt,Cezanne, Titian (my grandfather, a Norwegian whaler owned a Titian and gave it to the catholic church-who guaranteed him a seat in the first row, oh yeah..) on & on and hopefully all their interesting friends). There are many fine labels out there. (Hope I'm hear to post tomorrow). Cheers.

when it comes to high quality recordings it really matters to me the recorded material/musicians. don't wanna hear same things alloveroveroveragain as well so don't bother testing samething morethantwice. ECM label is the right match for me all the way on CD.