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Weird Question on Murray Pariah SACD Confusion

I am a little confused after a trip to Tower Records in Tokyo last week.

In their SACD live with headphones display, one of the SACDs playing was Murray Pariah Bach -- I thought piano concertos -- but I don't recall exactly.

I liked the sound of the disc, but decided not to purchase it as it was about $45.00 in yen, thinking it would be cheaper and easy to find in New York. However, on trips to two different stores I can't seem to spot the disc anywhere.

The weird and confusing thing is that the artwork and layout for the disc in Japan was exactly the same style as the artwork and layout and typeface for a Murray Pariah GOLDBERG SACD that I can easily find in New York.

The only thing that looks like Bach piano concertos, however, had a RED cover that did not look familiar to me.

I assumed the SACD catalogue was pretty small and distributed globally, but is it possible that only the artwork would change for a disc released in Japan? Could the red jacketed disc I find in New York be the same recording as the SACD I saw in Tokyo?

In any case, the performance sounded pretty good -- maybe some of you have the recording in which case I would also love to hear your opinion of the music and recording quality.

Thanks.
cwlondon
czbbcl's avatar
czbbcl
1,752 posts
 
Cwlondon

That's interesting, I haven't heard that there are different releases in different parts of the world; but I am not expert on the subject either. You might try perusing elusive discs (www.elusivedisc.com) web site as well; or you could call and ask them. I have found them to be quite helpful as well as making some good recommendations.

Chuck
bomarc
501 posts
 
Mastering an SACD is not cheap, and this disk is not going platinum. It is really hard to imagine anyone mastering the same recording twice for different markets. Different versions of cover art, aimed at different markets, is more plausible.

It's just barely possible that Perahia has recorded the Bach concerti twice, and different labels have put out the different versions on SACD. But given the minute demand for SACDs at the moment, I would doubt that's the case here.

It's highly likely that you're looking at two covers and one recording. Buy it and enjoy.
t_bone
1,182 posts
 
Cwlondon,
I had planned on stopping by Tower in Tokyo this weekend so if you can wait until Saturday or Sunday AM E.S.T. for an answer, I will post my findings after I go (Tower is a ten-minute walk from home). This, of course, assumes it's in stock. You've seen the size of their SACD inventory and perhaps noted the attention that seems to be paid to it...
Travis
t_bone
1,182 posts
 
Upon a visit to Tower, I find it is indeed the above-mentioned "red" Bach Keyboard Concertos 3,5,6 and 7 with Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Different cover (Perahia in dark blue suit jacket with t-neck sweater in front of gate/fence (in Paris, like the GVs?) with the same dark blue and red Arial-style font typeface) but same contents. The new Japanese SACD catalog has it as "SIGC-9". BTW... it is Y3000 + 5% consumption tax making it roughly $25.
cwlondon OP
1,210 posts
 
T-Bone:

You are a star! Thank you for cracking the code. With hindsight, I suppose there are bigger issues in the universe to contemplate, but it really was puzzling me.

Despite my accurate memory of the Goldberg style cover, perhaps I was wrong about the price - I would have sworn it was Y 4500 -- maybe it has gone on sale.

In any case, I thought it sounded pretty good and will now consider it a worthwhile SACD in either the red cover or the other cover.

Thank you everyone.
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