Steve responds to me:

>>We have competing recordings of 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th-rate composers
>>and the posthumous torsos of Cui, completed by....  You get the idea.
>
>Well, I'm sorry, this is specious.  There's a lot of first-rate music
>that hasn't been released, although we'd probably disagree on whether
>it's first-rate or not.  However, there are also some grand performances
>of first-rate composers that have never seen commercial CD.

I was exaggerating.  A little.  I've done my duty regarding periphery,
you know that.  With few exceptions--the Arnold symphonies, Barber's
Organ Toccata, VW's "Poisoned Kiss"--the rapturous discoveries become
fewer and farther between.  Bax' faeries fill my living room three times
over--the faerie dust blows out the window before I can catch it.  I use
Thalaba the Destroyer's loin cloth to wax my car these days.  Then there's
Naxos' American Composer series--I get to hear Alabama's Mighty Handful
and the 2nd Virginia School!  I'll keep trying.

I so need to re-acquaint myself with the Canon again.  Even Tchaikovsky
and Grieg.  SACD gives me the excuse.

Well, we'll see what happens in the coming years.  Maybe I will have
bought a useless piece of equipment.  Maybe not.  All I know is Musical
Fidelity sold 500 hybrid players in a little over a year--at $6500 a
pop.  More than a few people out there are ready to support the new
format, and hopefully things will work out for everyone.

John Smyth
Sac, CA USA