Of the better known recurve bows, I would say that Morrisons and Brackenburys seem to me to be at the top of the heap, but having said that, I have recently ordered a Shrew Classic Hunter that you can see is also very popular, although it is not a recurve, which you asked about. The comparable recurve to the Classic Hunter is the Shrew Lil Favorite and I will be ordering one of those soon too. I also have a couple of Blacktails that are very nice as well. I just don't like the higher grip on the ones I have, so I have ordered a Snakebit and will have Norm Johnson build it with a lower wrist grip. In addition, I own various bows (both recurve and longbow) by lesser known bowyers, some of which compare very favorably with the bows of the well known bowyers. No list of bows that are smooth and fast should omit the ACS CX longbow. It is very well made and looks good, but it is not as beautiful as most of the other bows I mentioned. One best buy bow that you definitely ought to consider is a Holm-Made which is created by Chad Holm, one of the sponsors of this site. My Holm-Made longbow is about the same speed and smoothness as my ACS CX at the same draw weight but costs less than half as much. I have a longbow made by Harold Couch that is also very smooth but not quite as fast as many of my other bows. What it lacks in speed it makes up for in stability which allows me to shoot it very well. Same for a Troy Breeding longbow I have. I would join in the suggestion that you try out as many bows as possible and see what you like. Otherwise, in a recurve, you cannot go wrong with a Brackenbury Quest, a Morrison Cheyenne or a Blacktail (the Snakebit is perhaps the best looking bow ever built, but it is still just a dressed up Blacktail). I'm sure many of the other bows mentioned in this thread are great too, but I haven't shot them all, so I don't know.
Allan