BR-Klassik resumes releasing SACDs...in Japan

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McCrutchy

Well-known Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
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Initially, BR-Klassik (the label of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) appears to have released eight Hybrid Multichannel SACDs in the West between late 2009 and early 2011. In July 2012, a member of SA-CD.net posted in their forum that BR-Klassik was discontinuing SACD production. However, fast forward to 2017, and now it seems they have started producing SACDs again...but only for the Japanese market.

I stumbled on this while browsing at Tower Japan, where I found a news article detailing a forthcoming release. Obviously, the next step was to find out if any titles had already been released, and it does seem that this resurgence began back in February 2017, with the Japanese editions of BR-Klassik's Mahler's 9th Symphony, conducted by Mariss Jansons.

The translated Japanese information was not clear about whether this was Stereo or Multichannel release, so naturally, I therefore assumed that it was stereo only, which would help explain why it was only being released in Japan. I ordered it anyway, and lo and behold, it is a Hybrid Multichannel SACD. I have not had a chance to listen to much of it, but I did pop it in to confirm that there is a 5.0 track, as specified on the packaging.

And speaking of the packaging, it does seem that these SACDs are produced entirely in Europe, by BR-Klassik, and given sequential product numbers, as well as full English packaging. Then, either BR-Klassik, or more likely, Naxos Japan, add an Obi strip with Japanese information. Even the included booklet is in English (and only in English, as specified on the packaging), and has the SACD product number printed on its back cover. For this release, the CD versions are Cat. No. 900151, while the SACD is 900152. My copy came in a Super Jewel Box.

Why BR-Klassik have chosen this odd, almost unadvertised route back to SACDs is a mystery, because Naxos certainly advertised it in Japan. As you'll discover, the list price of the Japanese SACD is only about ¥500/$5 more than the Japanese redbook CD (which is almost certainly a direct import of the Western CD), but seemingly no one outside of Japan has discovered that it exists until now.

In any event, I appreciate BR-Klassik making SACDs available in any form, let alone Hybrid Multichannel, so if that means that we have to buy Japanese versions, then so be it. I just wonder why it was apparently kept a secret.
 
The next release will be the Jansons recording of Mahler's 5th Symphony, which is listed on Amazon.co.jp here for ¥3,060, to be released on July 28th. A Japanese redbook CD version is not yet listed, and the Western CD will be out in August 2017.

I am, of course, assuming that it will be a Multichannel SACD, like the previous release.
 
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