I was listening to NPR yesterday, and they had a feature which was basically about how poorly Broadway shows are doing this year. What caught my ear was that supposedly not only are there shows that might close after only one or two nights (understandably), but in some cases there are shows which don't even make it to opening night. Apparently there are pre-performance performances which are reviewed by critics-- critics who are apparently trusted and have the producers' ears-- and if the critics aren't at least kind then the show doesn't even bother opening. What I was wondering is, why doesn't the the CM recording industry have a model like this? Or does it? I get the impression that there are a fair number of professional or respected critics on this list. Are they ever approached _before_ a CD is released, to get their opinions about an ongoing project? If not, then is this an impractical or bad idea, and if so, why? Come to think of it, even Hollywood movies are sometimes test-screened before release. So why couldn't a concept like this be applied to the classical music recording industry? Wouldn't it lower the risk for the labels that finance the recordings, as well as making performing orchestras and conductors more flexible towards accomodating the tastes of potential listeners? Or as I said before, does a setup like this already exist? hector aguilar