Fears of copyright extension

Sir, Extension of music copyright (letter, June 23) could be a disaster for collectors of historic classical recordings.

Thanks to the pioneering efforts of small companies such as Pearl and APR, now joined by Naxos, music-lovers are able to hear many great performers and performances from the past. The major companies today want CD sales in millions from the latest teenage prodigy or megastar conductor; they would consider it commercially unviable to market discs which would sell a few thousand copies at most.

These companies possess a treasury and archive as valuable as that of any major art gallery, which would be lost to the public were it not for the efforts of the independents. I have asked for Benno Moiseiwitsch’s last recorded performances to be reissued but I may have to wait another few years until they are out of copyright, when hopefully others will take them up.