John Smyth asks:

>Don't you think you're being too hard on the "majors?"

I don't think I'm being hard, soft, or anything else.  Facts are facts.  I
expressed the disclaimer in my year-end review that, living in the United
States, it is difficult for me to get many of the significant medieval
music recordings, and so I have to take a "best of my ability" approach
to the whole "released in Year X" issue.

The "majors," in particular, release only a minority of such recordings in
the US, and then usually only the ones I consider less interesting.  It's
almost pointless to expect a new Virgin Veritas release, for instance, to
be available in the US.  I had to buy the Orlando Consort's Josquin disc on
DG Archiv in Canada (I have been given to believe it may appear in the US
later, but that's exactly part of the point).  Sequentia's Frauenlob on DHM
is nowhere to be seen in North America (and that's an American group with
a dedicated American audience).

As I agreed, these companies feel they have no economic incentive to
release certain recordings in the US.  I also agreed that it often doesn't
seem reasonable.  I'm in no position to say whether it *is* reasonable or
not, but that disclaimer needed to be made.

Todd McComb
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