# Laserlight, Am I Crazy



## RevAvery (May 13, 2018)

Hi, 

I've always been pleased with Laserlight cds. To my ear, the recordings sound great and the performances have been very enjoyable.

I have several Mozart laserlight cds plus Count Basie Laserlight as well. I have the same Mozart materials on other "better" recordings, but find that I come back to these.

I even contacted Laserlight back when it was still in operation and asked how they could offer such quality at such a good price. I guess basically, if I'm remembering correctly, they paid the Orchestra on a per-performance basis. I think, in other words, it was like session work.

Anyway ...

Anybody else like Laserlight as much as I do or am I crazy. I'd really be interested in knowing.

Thanks.


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## Weird Heather (Aug 24, 2016)

I remember Laserlight from a long time ago. I bought a few, and they have been copied to my hard drive along with the rest of my collection. Since my collection is huge, I don't listen to any single recording all that frequently, so I may not have heard some of them in a long time. I remember being pleasantly surprised when I first discovered them; they were often a lot better than expected for the price, although quality was variable. Like you, I find that Mozart is a bright spot in their catalog. They were around at a time when Mozart's popularity was on the upswing due to the movie _Amadeus_, so perhaps they paid extra attention to these recordings.

Incidentally, some of these recordings seem to have since turned up in dirt-cheap (usually a dollar) mp3 sets on Amazon. These are typically "best of" or "top 100" of a particular composer or genre. I forget precisely which ones now, but I remember about two years ago buying one of those dollar sets to try it out and being surprised that I already had a few of the tracks in it, and it turned out to be one of the Laserlight CDs. Like Laserlight, these sets can be variable in quality, but they often contain some hidden gems.

Since Laserlight is now defunct, I wonder who owns the rights to their recordings.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I picked up a few in the 80s, not bad, but not brilliant either. When Naxos came along as a competing budget label with a much wider repertoire in (usually) good performances, Laserlight was out of business for my cash.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

They where always in display's at the front of CD shops, super bargain as far a I can remember.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

They were often found in cardboard display bins in grocery and drug stores. Ten bucks each, a bargain in pre-Naxos days when classical CDs were $15.98. The few I bought were all decent performances in good sound.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Laserlight offered a lot of junk, but there were a few jewels, too. Miklos Perenyi's recordings of the Haydn and Dvorak cello concertos were/are available on Laserlight, and IIRC, the Rostropovich/Boult recording of the Dvorak concerto made its first CD appearance on Laserlight.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

They produced a lot, but mostly from the popular repertoire.

I remember once having a CD box with Hans Graf conducting later Mozart symphonies, but it was replaced. 
I probably still have a couple of discs from the company, but I don´t list my stuff according to label; 
those I keep nowadays, I keep because I think they are good - also by comparison with other recordings.

This one for example, shown here as a released cassette, I´d call fairly interesting; 
I think I once heard excerpts & liked the recording


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

wkasimer said:


> Laserlight offered a lot of junk, but there were a few jewels, too. Miklos Perenyi's recordings of the Haydn and Dvorak cello concertos were/are available on Laserlight, and IIRC, the Rostropovich/Boult recording of the Dvorak concerto made its first CD appearance on Laserlight.


Indeed, Perenyi is a fine, at times very fine, cellist.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Wasn't Kegel's boring Beethoven cycle on Laserlight?

I definitely have two Laserlight discs but maybe more. One is definitely a Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade with Sandor and some Hungarian orchestra and it's surprisingly good. I've always liked it. The other is a serviceable Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 with Muti and a British orchestra at the helm (LPO/LSO/CBSO?). I'll have to look if I have more..... I'm sure I do.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

True. It wasn´t particularly adventurous, for sure. Some liked it because of an objectivity comparable to say Konwitschny´s.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Laserlight had some terrific recordings, if you knew what to look for. The Beethoven symphonies with Janos Ferencsik is wonderful - excellent set by any standards. The Planets with Geoffrey Simon is very fine. And for this old cowboy, a great source of Patsy Cline recordings before the major labels decided there's still money in those old recordings.


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## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

Merl said:


> Wasn't Kegel's boring Beethoven cycle on Laserlight?


Yes it was.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

If I remember correctly, Laserlight had a few Mozart piano concerto recordings on period instruments. I liked them very much.


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## RevAvery (May 13, 2018)

I'm trying to find more Mozart on Laserlight. What I have so far has been really good. I just found the 3 disc of the Early Symphonies. I didn't know they did the later ones too. If anybody knows where to find them could you please let me know? I'd appreciate it. Thanks


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I have The Planets by Simon, Brahms No.4, and Carmina Burana.


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## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

RevAvery said:


> I'm trying to find more Mozart on Laserlight. What I have so far has been really good. I just found the 3 disc of the Early Symphonies. I didn't know they did the later ones too. If anybody knows where to find them could you please let me know? I'd appreciate it. Thanks


Try on amazon, they have some.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Plenty to find on eBay. Search "Laserlight."


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

No, you're not crazy 
One of my favourite 'Rite of Spring's is on Laserlight:









The other label that ran alongside Laserlight back in the day was Zyx, and I have a few nice recordings on that label too including a Mozart box set and a not-too-shabby Mahler 2


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

mbhaub said:


> The Beethoven symphonies with Janos Ferencsik is wonderful - excellent set by any standards..


I can't agree with you on this one, mbhaub. I find Ferencsik's LvB cycle 'serviceable'. It's not bad but it lacks punch, is a bit pedestrian at times, and has poor sound which lacks bass. On the plus side it has some lovely inner detail and the winds are sometimes gorgeous. A very Bohm-esque set but with a poorer orchestra and sound. If you like Ferencsik's cycle you'll love Bohm.


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## Weird Heather (Aug 24, 2016)

I just remembered that I saw a few LaserLight CDs in a used CD store recently. People who are looking for them might want to check any used CD stores in their area. Thrift stores might also have them. Book Off, a Japanese chain with a few locations in southern California and elsewhere, usually has a reasonable number of classical CDs on hand. I seem to remember seeing LaserLight CDs in the Irvine location not too long ago. These CDs sold well at the time, so it isn't surprising that they would be circulating around the used market now. I didn't buy any; I seldom buy physical CDs now since they take up too much space and I live in an expensive real estate market. Many of these recordings may be available as CDs or downloads on other labels now. Somebody sent me a private message indicating that Capriccio acquired the rights, and Brilliant Classics ended up releasing a few of them. Also, I remember finding some of them in budget mp3 download sets, but I can't remember which ones now.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

As I remember it, the Kegel/Beethoven set was originally East-German LPs, also released on the Western, rather expensive and prestigious Capriccio label.

LaserLight CDs must have come in later, I think.


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## RevAvery (May 13, 2018)

techniquest said:


> No, you're not crazy
> One of my favourite 'Rite of Spring's is on Laserlight:
> 
> View attachment 103789
> ...


I never heard of Zyx. Have to keep an eye out for that.

Thanks


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## RevAvery (May 13, 2018)

KenOC said:


> Plenty to find on eBay. Search "Laserlight."


Just the other day I got some Mozart Laserlight on eBay


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