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RE: GG plays Byrd & Gibbons



Hi Tim,

The Byrd/Gibbons album from Japan you have must be:

   CBS/Sony 28DC 5287 (rel. 1989)

The booklet has two articles.  One is a general annotation
by a Japanese musicologist Tadashi Isoyama, the other is
the one written by GG (tr. Atsuo Kaneko), which was originally
prepared for the LP and nowadays you find in the _GG Reader_
(in English) or Monsaingeon's translations (in French).

All the strange English words all belong to GG's article.

I am curious where and how you bought Japanese GG discs?

I don't recommend you to trade your Japanese discs with
others, because they are very rare items.

In Japan, the series of GG recordings were released three 
times:  there are three generations:

1. around 1985:  bundled on the 2- , 3,- or 4- CD box basis.  
                      (probably AAD)

2. around 1989:  49 titles on the original LP album basis using the
cover photo of the original albums (probably AAD)
 #Even the Silver Jubilee Album (with A GG Fantasy) was released.

3. since 1992: Glenn Gould Edition (ADD; Super Bit Mapping)
The same as in Canada, US, Europe)

The first generation was taken over by the second, 
and the second by the third.  So the one you have with the beautiful
cover jacket is no more available.

I want to emphasize the difference of the sounds between the 
first/second and the third.  The third generation, GG Edition is 
supposed to be the better transfer, but someone might prefer
the sound of the older transfer.  The sound of GG Edition is 
very clear, but it doesn't mean a fidelity to GG's intention:  there 

might be different insert takes used to compensate defects in 
the original master tape (actually a friend of mine found one 
different note in the SBM recording of Bach's Sinfonia #2 in 
c minor from the one in the older generations and LP, I will 
inform it to you in another posting).

I recommend you to keep your Japanese CBS/Sony discs
as well as the GG Edition for enjoyments of various comparison.

Regards,

Junichi, Tokyo