Raff 5/Herrmann & CD Rot (aka Bronzing)

[raffite33]

Raff's 5th Symphony is my very favorite symphony, so I collect every recording issued on CD.  (We're up to 7.)  Bernard Herrmann's on Unicorn Kanchana is proving to be a bit of a problem.  I've acquired at least half a dozen copies over the years, and they all have bronzing, sometimes called CD rot.  In the past, when I've ordered a used or out-of-print CD on labels like ASV and gotten a bronzed disc, I've noted the copyright date on the inlay card and then searched for another copy with a different date.  If I find one with a later date, I order it, and I get one that isn't bronzed.

My question is, then, whether anyone can confirm that there was or was not a repressing before Unicorn went under.  Used copies, that aren't scratched all to heck, are getting pretty pricey, and I don't want to keep wasting money on bronzed copies.  Every copy I have ever seen is dated 1990, so if anyone has a clean copy with a later date, I would know to continue searching.  I suppose it is also possible that they reissued it without changing the date.  I've read that Unicorn went under sometime in the 1990s, so it is possible that they closed up shop before PDO started repressing the bronzed titles.

...and, yes, I've copied the best one onto a CDR, but it just isn't the same thing when collecting them is a hobby.  I've been hoping for years that Brilliant or Alto would reissue it.

[Alan Howe]

Well, I wouldn't count on Alto. They sometimes work from sources other than the original tapes, etc. The sound degradation can be very noticeable in comparison with the original recording - as I found when I bought their 'version' of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (the classic Janet Baker recording). 

[Alan Howe]

My copy of Raff 5/Herrmann also has mild 'bronzing', although it seems to play OK. The label date is 1990.

This listing confirms that the Unicorn Raff 5 (UKCD 2031) is one of the affected CDs:
http://www.classical.net/music/guide/defective.php

[raffite33]

Maybe there's hope for a reissue, after all.  I was just on HMV Japan, and I saw a listing for Jascha Horenstein's Mahler 3rd, on SACD, no less.  The Unicorn Kanchana logo is clearly on the front, though the label is listed as Silkroad Music in the product details.